Ambassador,
In the course of a lunch today with Mr. W.J. Smith,¹ Principal Officer in the Commonwealth Relations Office, the following points of interest emerged:-

1. He said that he hoped that the Minister would not be disappointed with the reply to our representations regarding the proposed posting of the Dutch Air Squadron at Eglinton, Co. Derry. In this connection Smith asked me, rather surprisingly, whether the agitation about the proposal had come from the officials in External Affairs or from the Minister. In explanation of this question, he said that it was quite natural that, for the first six or eight months in Office, the Minister took a direct hand in shaping the policy and in providing a great amount of drive in the affairs of the Department. It was, however, but natural that the officials after such a period would have been able to adapt themselves to the Minister's mind and outlook. I told him that public opinion in Ireland was away ahead of the Government in resenting the proposed posting of Dutch troops to the Six Counties and that, in fact, the statement issued by the Minister for External Affairs on behalf of the Government was not only expected but demanded by public opinion in Ireland. In my opinion it would be quite untrue and unrealistic to assume that the initiative had been taken by officials in the Department of External Affairs. Mr. Smith appeared to be reluctant to explain the basis for his question.
2. Mr. Smith asked me whether my Minister and the Government were very strongly of the view that Irish affairs should be dealt with by the Foreign Office rather than the Commonwealth Relations Office. He thought that we would lose a lot if our affairs were dealt with by the Foreign Office as we would lose the contacts which we have built up with the Commonwealth Relations Office. I said that this was not a sound reason for not transferring the Irish desk to the Foreign Office and told him that we would prefer to have Irish affairs dealt with by the Foreign Office, as we were no longer a member of the Commonwealth. I did not say anything about the views of the Minister and the Government on this question and Smith did not press me for information.

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