A 470/21/45)
FOREIGN OFFICE, 3.W.1
19th January, 1939
Dear Dixon,
In accordance with the wish expressed by Sir Harry
Batterbee at the interdepartmental meet.injj held on the
12th January I enclose a brief which we have"drawn up
for his use at the forthcoming conference with
representatives of Australia and New Zealand, setting out
the main political considerations relating to the Pacific
Islands.     This brief should be read in conjunction with
the note prepared by the Air Ministry for the use of sir
Harry Batterbee which, I gather, is to be submitted on
the 18th January to the International Air Communication
Committee,     It is drawn up in a form which will admit
of its being placed at the disposal of the Dominion
representatives at the conference subject, of course> to
the omission of the marginal references to documents
already forwarded for the use of Sir Harry Batterbee in
my letter to you A-9464/G of the 21st December.
You will note that the second page of the enclosed
brief/
. Dixon, ^sq. , C.M.G., O.B.K.,
Dominions Office.
brief states that the view of His Majesty's Government
is that the British title to Hull .Island is sufficiently
strong to enable them, if the necessity arises, to
threaten to refer the disputed claim to this island to
arbitration.     This statement, which conforms to the
wish expressed by Sir Harry Batterbee at the
interdepartmental meeting, has been approved by
Pitzmaurice, one of our legal advisers, whose opinion on
the subject is set forth in the enclosed minute. As
regards the first paragraph of his minute» we have
telegraphed to Washington telling theia that we should
appreciate an urgent reply to a request which we
previously addressed to them for any available material
showing the basis of the United States claim to "ull
Island.     We think it improbable, however, that they will
be able to secure such material, especially as we have
been at pains to emphasise that discretion should be
exercised in obtaining it.     Although I understand that
the Colonial Office are preparing a note on Hull Island
for inclusion in the papers placed at oir Harry's
disposal, he may be interested to see the enclosed note
on the subject which we have drawn up from the
information available in our files.     I have verbally
drawn the attention of Acheson, of the Colonial Office,
to the last sentence of this note.
Lastly , 3ir Harry may be interested to hear that we
have written semi-officially to our Embassy at Washington
telling them that, in the light of the Air Attache''s
minute drawing attention to the negative attitude of the
United States Kavy Department in relation to landing
facilities at Honolulu, we consider that it is all
the more necessary to consolidate our position on Hull
Island and to refuse any suggestion of sharing it with
the United States Government in the event of their
confronting us with such a request.
I am forwarding copies of this letter to Acheson
of the Colonial Office, Jarrett of the Admiralty,
Herbertson of the Air Ministry and Jones of the Treasury,
Touts tti7U#™lv
(Sri.)   I BALFOUR
P.S.     3ince writing this letter I have seen Washington
telegram/