I have the honour to inform you that I am instructed by the
Japanese Government to request you to be good enough to inform me
of the final decision of your Government on the subject of the
prohibition of the exportation of iron ore from Australia.

The Japanese Government feels impelled to ask for this
information, on account of the growing anxiety on the part of the
Japanese business interests concerned, who are intimating to the
Japanese Government, which naturally understands and sympathises
with their position, that it is a cause of great concern to them
to have the large amount of their investments in connection with
the Yampi Sound enterprise left in the present state of
instability.

In this connection, I have the honour to refer to the promise
given by your predecessor, the late Right Honourable J.A. Lyons,
in his letter addressed to my predecessor, Mr T. Wakamatsu, and
dated December 6th, 1938 [1], on the subject of the prohibition of
the exportation of iron ore from Australia, to the effect that the
Commonwealth Government would consider the views which my
predecessor expressed in his letter dated December 3rd, 1938 [2],
when the report on the survey on the resources of iron ore should
be available-which, according to information supplied by the late
Prime Minister in the Senate on November 18th, 1938 [3], would, it
was anticipated, be towards the end of June, 1939.

I am also instructed to add that, should your reply be to the
effect that your Government has reached the conclusion that it is
not in a position to lift the embargo on the export of iron ore,
the Japanese Government can have no alternative, in the
circumstances abovementioned, but to take up the matter of the
claim for compensation for the loss sustained by the Japanese
interests on account of the above embargo. [4]

M. AKIYAMA