Memorandum of a conversation between Ernest Blythe and Mr Smit on the appointment of Irish Free State Ministers to Paris and Berlin (Copy)

The Delegation entertained the South African Delegation to lunch today: towards the end of lunch Mr Blythe mentioned to Mr Smit¹ that the Irish Free State intended to appoint Ministers to Paris and Berlin and had already notified the British Government of this intention. He went on to say that there were certain limitations on the jurisdiction of the Irish Free State Minister in Washington which in view of the Imperial Conference of 1926 would require reconsideration in the case of the proposed appointments to Paris and Berlin. He said that this question had already been raised by the Canadian Government in regard to the appointment of a Canadian Minister to Paris, but that unfortunately no arrangement had been arrived at, and that Mr King had agreed to have the Canadian Minister appointed under the existing conditions, reserving the right to raise the question at a later date. Mr Blythe stated that the Irish Free State Government intended taking up this matter at once and would request that it be made clear that all matters which affected in any way the interest of the Irish Free State should be handled by the Irish Free State Minister. The Irish Government did not propose to raise the question of the diplomatic unity of the Empire at the moment as they thought it would have no effect in practice. Mr Blythe said he hoped that the South African government would soon appoint a Minister somewhere as he felt it was the best way of showing the status of the members of the Commonwealth and of consolidating their international position.

Mr Smit expressed considerable interest in our proposed action and said he had been trying to persuade his government to appoint Ministers instead of Chargé d'Affaires. He said he had succeeded in preventing them from taking any definite step in this direction, and that he would use, if Mr Blythe was agreeable, the fact that the Irish Free State was making further appointments as a further argument in support of his contention. He thought it would be unfortunate that South Africa should be less progressive than the Irish Free State or Canada in this matter.

He said that it was in his view very important that there should be closer contact between the Irish Free State, Canada and South Africa and hoped that in the future we could keep in closer touch. When asked if he thought it was possible to establish this contact through the respective High Commissioners in London, he said he thought it was, but that for some time past he had found difficulty in dealing with our London Office, owing to the difficulty of knowing who was the acting High Commissioner. It is, I think, likely that Mr. Smit will shortly urge on his Government the necessity of appointing a Minister somewhere in Europe and further he will advocate much closer contact with the Irish Free State and Canada on questions affecting the Status of the Dominions internationally and also their position in the Commonwealth of Nations.