795.00/7–3150
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
Subject: Korea; Migration Program; Requirement for Funds
| Participants: | Prime Minister of Australia, Robert G. Menzies |
| Secretary of State, Dean Acheson | |
| Assistant Secretary of State Thorp1 | |
| Assistant Secretary of State Rusk2 | |
| Assistant Secretary of State Perkins |
The Prime Minister stated there were three principal items, with which Australia was concerned, which they wished to discuss with the U.S. The first was Korea, He stated that as of course we knew Australia was wholeheartedly with the UN and the U.S. in the Korean situation. He skipped over briefly the fact that they intended to send further help to Korea and went on to say that they were planning, and in fact had been planning before the Korean incident, to build up their military strength, and believed that some kind of universal training of adequate duration would have to be adopted to carry this out. In this connection and in connection with any forces they might send to Korea, they were very anxious to work closely with us on what they should do and what equipment they should provide. This, he said they proposed to discuss with Defense.
The second point which he wished to mention was their migration program. He stated that Australia was undertaking a program which in proportion to their existing population was larger than any immigration into the U.S. at any time. This was putting a great load on the Australian continent in housing and in demands on basic commodities. He indicated that it was important for their own interests and for the interests of the other nations of the free world for Australia to be strong and they would probably not develop in strength without additional population. He indicated that they could take 200,000 immigrants a year and might even raise this to 250,000 per year in time.
The third point which he made was largely related to the second although not wholly dependent upon the second, and this was their requirement for funds for developing the country. He stated that their basic industries needed expansion, that they required public works, [Page 206] particularly hydro-electric facilities which would serve the double purpose of irrigation and power production. He specifically mentioned the need for earth-moving machinery which they could only buy in the U.S. He said they did not feel in a position to ask for more dollars than were now allotted to them in the sterling pool and that, therefore, additional dollar requirements must come from other sources. He mentioned that they had considered Wall Street, which he did not think was possible; a Government loan from the U.S., the difficulties of which he recognized; the International Bank; or the Ex-Im Bank. He said in his conversations with the British they had seen no objection to Australia attempting to obtain credit and that the British had favored the International Bank as the source thereof. He had doubts, however, about the International Bank as he understood they usually operated on a project basis and this involved detailed studies which in turn took appreciable periods of time and that he felt there was an urgency in their migration program which made prompt action essential. In reply to my question he indicated that the amount of money they were thinking of was 250 million dollars over a 5 year period or 50 million a year. I told him that we would be very glad to give him such help as we could in studying the details of his suggestions. It was agreed that Mr. Thorp would arrange a meeting at which State, Treasury, and Commerce representatives would meet with his representatives to study the problem.3