§ 130. Mr. Teelingasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many Government Departments have officials working in Japan; how far they come under the authority of Sir Alvary Gascoigne; and how many of them were in Japan before the war.
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§ Mr. BevinApart from the Foreign Office, which provides the diplomatic, commercial diplomatic and consular staff of the United Kingdom Liaison Mission, the following Government Departments have officials working in Japan: the Admiralty, the War Office, the Air Ministry, the Ministry of Labour, the Board of Trade, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Works. The representatives of all these Departments are, for local purposes, directly under the authority of Sir Alvary Gascoigne.
In addition, the Board of Trade and the Trading with the Enemy Department are represented by a Reparations and Restitution Mission, the head of which refers to Sir A. Gascoigne personally for guidance on matters of policy; and the Treasury Solicitor's Department is responsible for a team of law officers who represent this country at the trials of war criminals. The latter are naturally independent of the control of Sir A. Gascoigne.
Sir A. Gascoigne himself had experience of Japan before the war, as had eight of the senior Foreign Service members of his staff. Of the representatives of other Government Departments directly under his authority, I am informed that nine out of a total of 16 were in Japan before the war—mostly in unofficial capacities—and of the remaining officials to whom I have referred at least two also had experience of prewar Japan.