Your 114 of 31st May. [1] Portugal.

I went this afternoon to see the Portuguese Ambassador.

Although the Ambassador was, as usual, very cordial personally, it
proved to be a difficult interview.

I told the Ambassador that after giving most careful thought to
the matter my Government had instructed me to see him and ask that
the Portuguese Government should not press for the present, the
question of the appointment of a Charge d'Affaires in Australia.

I said the reason for this request was no lack of appreciation of
Portugal and should not be construed as a refusal to enter into
diplomatic relations with the Portuguese Government, but was clue
to the fact that at the moment we were heavily committed with
regard to new missions abroad, with consequent demands on
personnel to staff them.

I told the Ambassador that we fully appreciated that the
Portuguese Government would not regard it as discourteous if,
while agreeing to the Portuguese appointment at Canberra, we did
not reciprocate by sending a representative to Lisbon. I said,
however, that my Government felt, notwithstanding the
comprehending attitude of the Portuguese Government, it was not a
desirable situation that one sided representation should continue
indefinitely.

As the Ambassador was obviously extremely disappointed at our
reply, I gave him a somewhat detailed account of the commitments
we had already accepted in recent years, including representation
in the other British countries, which was, of course, of primary
importance. I reinforced this by referring to the numerous
approaches we had had from various European Allies. I stressed
that if we agreed to the Portuguese proposal it would make our
position with these Allies very difficult and this point, I am
glad to say, the Ambassador at length appreciated.

Nevertheless, he returned to the charge on the basis of the many
questions in the Pacific that it would be for Australia and
Portugal to deal with and he emphasised that some of them would be
matters requiring to be handled very expeditiously.

He pressed me to take the matter up again with my Government to
see if there could be a reconsideration. I told him that I would
report fully to my Government what he had said and we left the
matter on this basis. The Ambassador, for his part, undertook to
do his best to smooth the feelings of his people in Lisbon. This
will not be an easy task.

BRUCE