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present drafted does not contain any definition of the area over which
it would operate, and I wonder if you have any comments on this.
When the time comes, we would, of course, wish to state
publicly the attitude of the United Kingdom Government, welcoming
the Treaty and making it clear that we had been consulted throughout
and that we considered that our interests were fully safeguarded.
This should, incidentally, dispel any misapprehensions such as I have
mentioned above about our continued interest in the Pacific area.
It would help us greatly from this point of view if both our Governments,
and the New Zealand Government also, were to make concerted state-
ments laying emphasis on the value of the Treaty as a contribution
towards Commonwealth security and on the fact that it is comple-
mentary to the understandings of mutual support between Australia,
New Zealand and the United Kingdom which remain so essential a part
of our relationship. I hope that you will agree that such statements
should be made at the appropriate moment.
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G.R.