Mr. Belton was invited to lunch to-day by Mr. Lipski, former Polish Ambassador in Berlin. When he arrived, he found the other members of the party were the Polish Foreign Minister, Mr. Tzarnowski, and the Secretary-General of the Polish Foreign Ministry. As Mr. Tzarnowski does not speak English well, the conversation was maintained in French.

At the end of the lunch, Mr. Tzarnowski said he would be grateful if Mr. Belton would discuss, as frankly as possible, the delicate matter of Mr. Dobryznski's relations with the Irish Government.¹ He went on to say that in the last few months, he had received very disturbing reports about Mr. Dobryznski from Mr. Auberon Herbert,² Mr. Jan Tomacevski³ and Mr. Zaleski.⁴ These reports were all in agreement and showed that Mr. Dobryznski was, if not persona non grata with the Irish Government, certainly not persona grata. The reports disclosed that Mr. Dobryznski was not on good terms with the Secretary, Department of External Affairs, and was not welcomed in the Department, that the Archbishop of Dublin would not receive him, that he had done many things that had displeased the Department, that the Irish people did not like him, and that generally he was a most unsuitable person to have as representative in Dublin. Mr. Tzarnowski said that if these reports were true, it would be a lamentable thing at any time, but just now it was disastrous. He, accordingly, asked Mr. Belton for his candid opinion in the matter.

Mr. Belton said that, as far as he was aware, whilst the Irish Government had never described Mr. Dobryznski as persona non grata, the material allegations contained in the reports were well founded. He gave, as an example of Mr. Dobryznski's activities, the detailed arrangements which he had made with the Irish universities for the reception of Polish students without at any time consulting the Department of External Affairs. Mr. Belton gave it as his personal opinion, that the Irish Government would be very glad to see Mr. Dobryznski replaced.

Mr. Tzarnowski said that this confirmed him in the decision he had already arrived at, that Mr. Dobryznski must go and go very shortly. He said that Mr. Dobryznski had now reached the retiring age limit and he would be retired within a very few weeks.

Mr. Tzarnowski then asked as to the standing of Mr. Zaleski. Mr. Belton said that he was not aware of any objection to Mr. Zaleski. Mr. Tzarnowski then said that, on Mr. Dobryznski's departure, Mr. Zaleski would carry on in charge of the Consulate-General, pending the appointment of Mr. Dobryznski's successor. He was contemplating sending Mr. Grocholski over to work with Mr. Zaleski, but particularly to take charge of all questions relating to the Polish children and the students.

Mr. Tzarnowski then said that he greatly regretted all the trouble that Mr. Dobryznski had caused, and that he was sorry he had not acted in the matter sooner. He added a very sincere expression of his deep gratitude to the Irish Government for what they had offered to do for the Polish children and students.

He asked Mr. Belton if he would convey what he had said to the Irish Government. Mr. Belton said he would do so immediately.