WIDER POWERS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 88, 12 January 1928, Page 8

WIDER POWERS

REQUIRED BY AUSTRALIAN COMMISSIONER MINISTER AT WASHINGTON RECOMMENDED WHY SIR HUGH DENISON RESIGNED (Rec. January 11, 10.20 p.m.) By Telegraph.—Press Association. Copyright. New York, January 11. On the eve of Sir Hugh Denison’s departure for England, en route to

Australia, some- . thing is learned on good authority of important aspects of the situation l leading to his. resignation. It is understood that Sir Hugh Denison, aon arrival, found his I position as Commissioner inadequate to carry out the work on such I broad lines as embraced in his commiccinti W Fi a T 1

mission. When Mr. Bruce was in America in December, 1926, Sir Hugh Denison - outlined the situation, and suggested the elevation of the Commissioner’s office to the status of Legation, but Mr Bruce indicated that this was not immediately contemplated. Matters rested thus till Sir Hugh Denison forwarded his resignation. Lack of status made it difficult to bring important matters in a properly official way before the attention of American officials. Besides this, the tariff policy of the United States appeared to preclude the possibility of profitably augmenting the trade between the two countries, rendering the Commissioner’s duties of little need. He stressed his anomalous position, and recommended the elevation of the Commissionership to the rank of a small Legation at Washington, similar to those of Canada and the Irish Free State.

Subsequent exchanges of communications indicate that the Australian Government is now more inclined toward the advisableness of having a Minister at Washington, with broad diplomatic powers. There is a feeling here that the question of the creation of an Australian Legation at Washington is somewhat complicated ’by the position of the High Commissioner in London, and that the Government’s decision affecting both positions will probably be announced in the next few months.