TOKYO

Yesterday's Press reported in fairly unequivocal terms that the
Government had instructed the Delegation to return before the end
of the year in view of wheat stalemate. I checked with Yoshino who
said:

1. The Delegation had reported difficulty in sustaining the
talks without wheat counter offer.

2. The Delegation had been advised it could return (singly if
necessary through Olympic overcrowding of airways [1]) if it
thought this desirable, but decision left at the discretion of the
Delegation.

I did not think this worth reporting because I felt you would be
told the decision by the Delegation. However, since this morning's
press carried a Canberra report dated yesterday that 'the
Officials of both Nations' denied both the reports that the talks
had collapsed and that the Delegation was being recalled, I have
thought that you should know the background this end.

Yesterday's reports could have been part of the anti-Kono campaign
currently intensifying.