I wish to thank you for your letter and enclosures of 28th May
last dealing with Co-operation in British Commonwealth Defence.

While there has not been an adequate opportunity to examine in
detail all the proposals which you make, I feel that I should let
you know at this stage of their consideration that, in my own
view, the procedure suggested in paragraphs 9 and 10 of your
letter [1], for liaison between our two Governments as well as
other Commonwealth Governments concerned, is not acceptable.

The New Zealand Government are at all times anxious to co-operate
with Australia on the basis of equality, but, in the machinery
proposed, that full measure of equality that should characterise
co-operation between our two Governments is not adequately
provided.

In any scheme of co-operation, it is an essential condition that
we should have an effective voice and vote in matters of policy on
administration and control, as well as in the determination of
general policy.

It would, I am sure, not be impracticable to devise some method of
effective partnership and joint machinery for the control of
British Commonwealth defence projects on the level of
administrative policy. Indeed, I feel that any other arrangement
is alien to the spirit of the general political agreement to which
we have both subscribed and of the customary partnership of our
people.