AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER, CANADA

1. The object of the appointment of a High Commissioner in Canada
is to secure representation of the Commonwealth Government. The
High Commissioner will act as the channel of communication to the
Canadian Government and will in turn keep the Commonwealth
Government informed of official views in Ottawa.

2. The office will, in fact, be an entirely political one and will
be exactly analogous in its functions to that of an accredited
Minister in Washington or Tokyo. Further, in the light of the
independent status of the Dominions, there is no substantial
constitutional reason for differentiating the functions of the
High Commissioner in a Dominion from those of an accredited
Minister in a foreign country. Both offices would have as their
object the external representation of the Commonwealth Government.

3. It would be misleading to take the office of High Commissioner
in London as at present constituted as a normal basis of
comparison. This post was instituted in the first place in 1910,
primarily for commercial and financial objects, and the work of
the High Commissioner's staff in London is still almost entirely
concerned with these matters. The Department of External Affairs
was one of the original Commonwealth Departments, and dealt with
all external matters affecting the Commonwealth, political or
otherwise. This Department automatically took over the High
Commissioner's Office at the time of its creation, until its
functions were merged into other Departments, and the Prime
Minister's Department was established. In so far as the functions
of the High Commissioner in London have in recent years, with the
development of Dominion status, come to include political matters,
it is important to observe that communication in this respect to
and from the High Commissioner is now almost entirely through the
separate channel of External Affairs, as it was for all matters
when the office was instituted. Not only this, but in London
itself the High Commissioner is advised on political matters by
the External Affairs Officer and utilises the External Affairs
office for political communications.

4. There is no Prime Minister's Department in Canada, nor is there
a separate Prime Minister's Department in South Africa, and their
High Commissioners come under the Ministry for External Affairs,
the Minister being always, so far as is known, the Prime Minister.

5. In the United Kingdom service the political nature of the
functions of United Kingdom High Commissioners in the Dominions is
also clearly demarcated. The United Kingdom Trade Commissioners in
the Dominions come under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Overseas Trade; the United Kingdom High Commissioners come under
the Dominions Office and their staff is recruited not only from
the Dominions Office but also from the Foreign Office.

6. The recently appointed High Commissioner for Eire in Ottawa [1]
is a former official of the Department of External Affairs in
Dublin and the office is under the control of the Eire Minister
for External Affairs. The accredited representative of the
Government of South Africa in Ottawa is also under the
jurisdiction of the South African Minister for External Affairs.

So far as is known the same will apply to the prospective Canadian
High Commissioner in Canberra.

7. For the above reasons, it would be anomalous if the Australian
High Commissioner in Ottawa, and subsequently High Commissioners
in other Dominions, were to be put under a different jurisdiction
from that which will apply to the Australian Ministers in
Washington and Tokyo, namely, that of the Minister for External
Affairs. The Commonwealth Government still maintains the office of
Trade Commissioner in Canada and there would be little object in
instituting the new office of High Commissioner unless its
political function was in this way made clear.

8. It seems desirable to have this point decided as soon as
possible in order that staff and accommodation arrangements can be
provided for in good time by the Department responsible. [2]