I have your letter A.222 of the 25th June enclosing a letter from J. Giese and Co., of Rathenow, Germany.¹ I agree that we are likely to get other enquiries of the same kind.

In principle, I agree with the view expressed in the second paragraph of your letter, but it is very important that we should not refer to an 'agreement'. You will remember that for concrete reasons we have always avoided giving any indication to anybody that there is anything in the nature of a written agreement in existence. You might perhaps look, in this connection, at the wording we used in the Note to the Allied Governments about Axis assets in this country.² You have, I think, a copy of this on your file. We would suggest the use of some such phrases as 'It was arranged, with the concurrence of the German Government, that, etc., etc.'

Any such phrase should, I imagine, be sufficient for your purpose without conveying the suggestion which we are anxious to avoid. We still think it important not to give anyone the slightest clue to the fact that there was a definite written agreement.