Confidential report from John W. Dulanty to Seán MacBride (Dublin)
(Secret)

Dear Seán,
Thank you for your letter of yesterday.¹

Several times yesterday, and again this morning, I have tried to get to Pandit Nehru but the Prime Ministers' Conference appears to be absorbing the whole of his, and other Ministers', time. In the event of my not getting him this afternoon, there will be a chance of talking to him at a dinner in his honour this evening when I will hand him copy of the Aide Mémoire I have already delivered to the other Ministers, except Dr. Evatt who is in Paris.

I may, however, say here that when I saw Pandit Nehru on the 15th October, I asked him about the accreditation of India's Diplomatic Representatives and he told me that on their Constitution being confirmed in a few weeks time, their Representatives would present Letters of Credence from the President of India and there would be no approach through the British King.

He appeared to have no strong line about the title of High Commissioner but the High Commissioner for Pakistan who, as I think I mentioned before, has been continually pressing Mr. Attlee and Mr. Bevin on the question, told me last evening that in the discussions in the Prime Ministers' Conference this week, India and New Zealand were in favour of retaining the designation 'High Commissioner'.

Pandit Nehru said for the present it would be prudent on their part to retain some thread, however thin, with the British Commonwealth and that he thought would be done by his Government's adopting an arrangement of dual nationality.

Last Sunday's Press Conference, as I think I have mentioned before, was not a Press conference on the normal lines, but was confined to the Lobby Correspondents of the principal newspapers. One of the men from a leading newspaper, whose name I will give you when I see you, told me that these meetings with the Lobby men are treated in strict confidence and he was reluctant to say very much about it. He did, however, tell me that Gordon Walker was rather inexpert in dealing with the meeting and though he doubtless meant to give a background story, what in fact he gave was rather a one-sided story. The meeting was held, as I think I have already reported, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It was taken by Gordon Walker in the Commonwealth Relations Office; Philip Jordan, the Prime Minister's Press Officer, and Sir Eric Machtig being present. My informant thought there were also one or two clerks. There was no written 'hand-out' given.

When Gordon Walker spoke to me last Monday, he complained about the lack of liaison between the people at Chequers and himself at the Commonwealth Relations Office because it seemed to him that the former did not know that they were holding a Press conference. This seemed odd in view of the presence at the Conference of Jordan but last evening Machtig repeated the same statement. There was a bungle about the time at which the journalists could release their account. At first people at Chequers said no release would be made until midnight and subsequently said the release would be made for the B.B.C. 6 o'clock news.

According to Machtig this was merely one of the many rushed affairs No. 10 and his Office had been involved in, and that all through the week there had been a desperate attempt on the part of both Offices to keep abreast of the work and that with no real opportunity for normal preparation.

When meeting Ministers from abroad, I have nearly always suggested a visit to Ireland and so when I was talking to Eric Louw and Nehru last week, I ventured to give each of them a cordial invitation from the Government. Louw said that he was very anxious to come and, later, when he knew more about his own movements, he would suggest one or two dates. Nehru said he would very much like to cross over to Dublin but he had been away from India far too long and thought he must get back the moment the Conference business finished.