Copy
(ff. 8706/16/45)
Imm ,;diate.
Foreign Office, S. Wl
18th November, 1938.
Dear Bevir,
Please see the Colonial Office letter
86059/38 Pt.III of the 8th November.   As I have already
informed you on the telephone, we are in entire agreement
with the view that an early interdepartmental meeting
should be held to discuss the policy which His Majesty*s
Government should adopt towards the efforts of the United
States Government to assert claims to Pacific Islands
hitherto regarded as British which they wish to acquire in
order to develop a trans-Pacific air service. Recent
developments have made it plain that we are exposed to the
risk of the United states Government developing such claims
in a no very distant future, and it is decidedly regrettable
that they have as yet shown little or no disposition to
reply to the practical solution of the whole problem which
we originally submitted to them on the 30th March last in
the form of an invitation to participate in a conference with
His Majesty's Governments in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth
of Australia and New Zealand to examine the political and
technical aspects of co-operative and reciprocal air services
by a British Commonwealth and United states Company across the
Pacific.
Provided it suits your convenience and that of the
other Govei'nment Departments concerned, I am now writing
to let you know that Butler, our Parliamentary Under-
Secretary of State, will be willing to preside at an
interdepartmental meeting on Thursday of next week, the
24th November
A.Bevir,Esq.
24th November, and suggi sts that the meeting should be
held in hi3 room at 4,45 p.m. on that afternoon*   subject to
any additional suggestions, we would propose that the agenda
for this meeting should comprise the following points;-
(1) Whether His Majesty's Government can in any way
supplement the efforts they have already made to secure
acceptance oi' their invitation to a four-party conference;
(2) Whether it would be advisable to take the
initiative in reverting to the United states proposal for a
clean-up of conflicting claims to Pacific Islands.   If sof
in what form should the approach to Washington be made?
(3) If it is decided to leave the initiative under
(2) to the United States Government, to what extent should the
problem when it arises be dealt with along the lines
suggested in Foreign Office memorandum enclosed in our
letter to the Colonial Office A.7569/16/46 of the 28th
October?
(4) What supplementary action, if any, should be taken
in order to strengthen our position on individual islands*
e.g. Christmas Island?
(6)        What reply should we return to any request from
the United iitates Government to be provided with more
specific information than we have already placed at their
disposal regarding the survey of certain Pncific Islands
which is now being undertaken by an expedition from new
Zealand?
In addition to the foregoing items, it would
seem appropriate that the meeting should also consider what
advice should be tendered to the New Zealand Government in
reply to the suggestion which they addressed to Hia
Majesty's Government in general terms for a conference
between