Documents Relating to New Zealand's Participation in the Second World War 1939–45: Volume III
184 — The Governor-General of New Zealand to the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs1 — [Extract]
184
The Governor-General of New Zealand to the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs1
[Extract]
Following for Prime Minister from my Prime Minister:
1 Viscount Caldecote.
2 Not published. This telegram contained for the Prime Minister's information a provisional review of the situation in the event of the collapse of French resistance. The review was framed on the basis that Britain would continue to fight, with or without United States assistance. Paragraph 8, dealing with the Pacific, read:
‘In the unlikely event of Japan, in spite of the restraining influence of the United States of America, taking the opportunity to alter the status quo in the Far East, we should be faced with a naval situation in which, without the assistance of France, we should not have sufficient forces to meet the combined German and Italian navies in European waters and the Japanese fleet in the Far East. In the circumstances envisaged, it is most improbable that we could send adequate reinforcements to the Far East. We should therefore have to rely on the United States of America to safeguard our interests there.’
3 See Appendix II.
1 Text omitted contained a proposal by the New Zealand Government ‘to send to Washington a Minister of the Crown on special mission’. This proposal led eventually to the establishment of a New Zealand Legation in Washington and of a United States Legation in Wellington.