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Documents Relating to New Zealand's Participation in the Second World War 1939–45: Volume I

1 — The Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs1 to the Governor-General of New Zealand2

1
The Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs1 to the Governor-General of New Zealand2

1 September 1939

Defence.

Precautionary stage3 adopted against Germany and Italy.

1 Secretaries of State for Dominion Affairs in the United Kingdom Government during the war were:

28 Jan 1939 – 3 Sep 1939Rt. Hon. Viscount Caldecote, PC, CBE, KC (then Sir Thomas Inskip).
3 Sep 1939 – 12 May 1940Rt. Hon. Robert Anthony Eden, PC, MC.
12 May 1940 – 5 Oct 1940Viscount Caldecote.
5 Oct 1940 – 21 Feb 1942Rt. Hon. Viscount Cranborne, PC.
21 Feb 1942 – 28 Sep 1943Rt. Hon. Clement Richard Attlee, PC, CH.
28 Sep 1943 – 3 Aug 1945Viscount Cranborne.
3 Aug 1945 – 7 Oct 1947Rt. Hon. Viscount Addison, KG, PC.

On 2 Jul 1947 the title of this office was changed to Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations.

3 Precautionary Stage. Paper ONS 135, issued by the Organisation for National Security, Prime Minister's Department, Wellington, on 11 Aug 1939, contains a list of messages to be received from the Government of the United Kingdom on the threat of war. These were the normal abbreviated messages which His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom would address to the Dominion Governments in the event of the initiation of precautionary and war measures. The meaning of the warning telegram, ‘Defence. Precautionary stage adopted against (Power(s))’ was as follows:

(a)

Relations with (Power(s)) have become so strained that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom have found it necessary to adopt precautions against possible surprise attack and to initiate preparations for war, including precautionary stage of defence schemes at defended ports.

(b)

Your Government is asked to co-operate and to notify His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom by telegraph of the precautionary measures taken.