1. A meeting on the question of South Pacific bases between
British Commonwealth and Byrnes who was accompanied by Dunn [1]
took place in Bevin's room this morning. [2]

2. Byrnes said their objective was to maintain facilities for
defence and preservation of peace and not to allow them to fall
into state of disrepair at important key points. Costs of
maintenance were going to be heavy and he wanted to know who would
be responsible for those places the Service Chiefs deemed
essential. He said we did not want to be caught as before and
experience has shown however close you may have your bases to a
potential danger you must also have a good rearward chain to
support them.

3. Bevin suggested a Joint Commission comprising of Political and
Military experts representing the four countries primarily
concerned (United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New
Zealand) who might consider,
(1) which bases should be retained and how they were to be used
such as Joint control.

(2) as to which territory there might be a transfer of
sovereignty.

(3) how to deal with disputed territory.

(4) which bases were to be used for civil air bases. He said this
was only a rough idea and terms could be carefully worked out. It
was agreed this would be the best way to handle the question and
that a meeting at Washington after the present conference [3]
would be most convenient. During discussion I formed the
impression that the United States had already considerably
modified their views and apart from civil air bases were now
mainly interested in Canton and Manus.

4. It would be helpful if we had your concurrence immediately.

Fraser, New Zealand agrees fully with suggested course.