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said that the Secretariat would then come to Singapore soon after Australian Conference. They would therefore be here for several months at least and he thought that this might help to secure that Organisation atays here much longer.
5. McKerron's and my impression was that he is sincere in his advice, that he believes that these tactics will be most likely to achieve our purpose, and that he himself is to some extent inclined to favour Singapore as headquarters provided that the staff housing problem can be reasonably satisfactorily solved. He did not think that there was any chance of it being solved by Organisation building their own houses unless and until a decision is taken that permanent headquarters should be located here.
6. He told us that he discussed the question, of headquarters site with Nehru and others in India. They told him that India would not (repeat not) issue a formal invitation to the Organisation to set up its headquarters in India. On the other hand if the delegates themselves wiɛh to propose India, the Indian Government will welcome the suggestion. They have one or two possible sites in mind. Whether this means that the Indians, though they take no formal (?move) in the matter, will privately do propaganda amongst the Conference delegates in favour of an Indian site, remains to be seen,
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?。 Lokanathan asked us what we thought were the advantages of Singapore. When we stated these he seemed to be in agreement. I think he was probably seeking ammunition from us for his own use. He is definitely opposed to any site in the Philippines and appears to be averse to Bangkok. He feels that Bangkok is too much a "back water". But he says that F.A.0. decision in favour of Bangkok is important, since this will be an argument in favour of E„C.A. going to the same place.
8. Please pass a copy of this to the Foreign Office, I have reported the above conversation to stent, (?himself (alternative interpretation Hollingsworth)) and Scrivenor, who will take copies of this telegram to Lapstone tomorrow.
Copies sent to:-
Foreign Office
Treasury
H
Commonwealth Relations Office
的
Miss J. Turner
Miss E.M. Mills
Mr. J.H. Martin
Mr. Wakely
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