I am directed by the Minister to refer to your Code Telegram of the 6th instant,¹ and to your strictly confidential report of the same date¹ about the Bolivia-Paraguay dispute.

The sources from which the information contained in your telegram and report was obtained, should be stated. I am to remind you that it is a general rule governing the furnishing of reports to this Department by officers abroad that the source from which unofficial information is derived, must always be specifically stated. If this is not done, unofficial information contained in reports is of no value to the Department.

In view of the circumstance that Mr. O'Byrne is to take the Permanent Delegate's place at the meetings of the Advisory Committee on the Bolivia-Paraguay dispute to be held next week, I am to recall here the principles upon which the attitude of the Saorstát representative in discussions on this subject at Geneva has been, and must continue to be based.

We have no material interests to defend in either Bolivia or Paraguay. Moreover, having no diplomatic representatives in either of those countries, we are not in a position either to form any independent judgment for ourselves on the circumstances and merits of the dispute, or to add anything to the information about it made available to all the members of the League through the Secretariat. This being so, our role in the efforts of the League to put an end to this dispute must be strictly limited to doing whatever is positively incumbent upon us, as a Member of the League, to do. Thus, it must be our policy to give effect as promptly as possible, so far as Saorstát Éireann is concerned, to recommendations with regard to this dispute made by the League as a whole, however unessential the adoption of these recommendations by Saorstát Éireann may seem to be. But for our representative at Geneva to take the initiative in making proposals with regard to the settlement of the dispute, or to support such proposals made by others before it had become clear that they commanded a substantial measure of support among the States more directly concerned in the matter than Saorstát Éireann, would be to misconceive completely our obligations and functions as a member of the League in cases of this kind, not to say the definite policy of the Minister with regard to this particular dispute. The initiative, in the discussions at Geneva, should come from the States which, by reason of their geographical propinquity to the belligerents or the magnitude of their interests in the area affected by the conflict, have first-hand knowledge of the circumstances of the dispute or a direct interest in its settlement. But the assumption of an active role in the proceedings by Saorstát Éireann is entirely uncalled for. It could not possibly enhance either our own national dignity or the prestige of the League. In fact, it would tend to make the entire proceedings appear unreal and ridiculous.

The Minister desires that the representative of Saorstát Éireann at the forthcoming meeting of the Advisory Committee should be guided by these considerations.