TYPEX
With the
ms of th
13
Color-Secretary of ouate for Dominion
Antaira
INWARD TELEGRAM
FROM: CANADA (H.C.)
TO:
D.O.
D. 22nd July 1942
R. 23rd
17
MOST IMME DIATE
No.1453 MOST SECRET
१
9 My telegram No.1426.
12
6.18 p.m.
2.25 a.m.
95
S.D.
As I told you in my telegram No.1451 I have now seen a copy of Drew's letter to the Prime Minister of July 11th and feel bound to report the situation to you as follows.
1. In a telegram of March 19th the Canadian Government asked the United Kingdom Government for their agreement to the Commissioner (Chief Justice Duff) and Counsel in the Hong Kong enquiry being shown five telegrams sent by the United Kingdom Government, "not for publication or inclusion in record or reference in report". In the course of your reply of March 28th you said the following, "we should normally have felt bound to resist any suggestion that documents 80 secret or of such recent date should be submitted to enquiry, but request has been most carefully considered with a view to assisting His Majesty's Government in Canada and as exceptional measure we are prepared to agree to production of telegrams mentioned......on distinct understanding that they will not be published and will not be included in the record or referred to in any report of the enquiry......we feel sure that Canadian Government will appreciate necessity for these precautions from point of view of our relations with other Governments and their representatives.....".
2. I am not aware of any subsequent communication from the United Kingdom Government to the Canadian Government which modified any of these conditions. The Commissioner did nevertheless make a general reference to the five telegrama on page 4 of his published report as follows: "I had the advantage of reading a number of despatches from the Government of the United Kingdom which I am not at liberty to reproduce, as well as a despatch from the Canadian Military authorities in England, which is reproduced in pert, dealing with the probabilities concerning war with Japan, and my conclusion is that, having regard to the information of which the Covernment were in possession, derived from the best sources of information open to them, nothing emerged before the departure of the Expeditionary Force on the 27th October which could have been considered to be a justification for the withdrawal by Canada from the responsibility she had undertaken. On the contrary, the reasons which prompted the acceptance of the proposal continued to operate with possibly increasing force up to the sailing of the expedition". There is another reference to these telegrams in the appendix attached to the report, on page 17 of the published document as follows:- "Some communications between the Government of Canada and the
Government