Sir,

I have the honour to refer to your despatch No. 203 of the 1st instant¹ and to state that my Ministers have given careful consideration to your earnest request that they should not 'ask His Majesty's Government to call upon the Government of Northern Ireland to appoint their Commissioner until the representatives of the two Governments have had time to resume their conversations'.

2. With regard to the suggestion in paragraph 3 of your despatch, my Ministers desire me to say that this important matter has in their opinion now become so pressingly urgent that they could not take the responsibility of permitting the indisposition of any of their representatives to cause any further delay. Had the President or any other member been unable to attend the Conference in person, his place would have been taken by a representative appointed for that purpose.

3. While my Ministers are anxious to consult the convenience both of His Majesty's Government and of the Government of Northern Ireland, they cannot, for the reasons stated in my despatch No. 95 of the 15th ultimo,² agree to the continued postponement of the settlement of this problem, and they consider that the personnel of the Boundary Commission should be completed not later than the 1st May next.

4. In the meantime, however, since Sir James Craig is due to return from his voyage on the 24th instant, they would be prepared, in the spirit referred to in paragraph 8 of my despatch mentioned above, to send representatives to confer with representatives of His Majesty's Government and of the Government of Northern Ireland on the following day, provided that they are assured on behalf of His Majesty's Government, that if the resumed Conference does not result in, or give promise of, a more satisfactory solution of the Boundary question than that provided for in Article 12 of the Treaty, steps will be taken by His Majesty's Government to complete the constitution of the Boundary Commission not later than the 1st proximo.