This is to confirm that on Saturday, August 9, the Prime Minister requested the Department to provide him with a tentative plan for a Commonwealth tour between approximately November 1 and December 15.

2. The Prime Minister would propose to begin the tour with a visit to London where he has certain engagements in the first week of November. Hewould then proceed by air to Karachi, going on to visit NewDelhi, Colombo, Saigon, Kuala Lumpur, possibly Singapore, and Australia and NewZealand, returning via the Pacific to Canada.

3. The present status of this plan is preliminary in the extreme. Ithink the Prime Minister merely wishes to be advised whether a tour such as he has in mind could be accomplished in six weeks and approximately what proportion of the total time we would recommend be spent in the various countries visited. Ido not think we have yet reached the stage where our Missions should be consulted.⁴⁸

H.B. R[OBINSON]

⁴⁸ Les plans en vue d'un tour du monde ont été achevés par le ministère des Affaires extérieures et approuvés par le premier ministre Diefenbaker, le 19 août 1958. Entre le 29 octobre et le 14 décembre, il était prévu que le premier ministre, après avoir quitté l'Amérique du Nord à partir de New York, se rende au Royaume-Uni, en France, en Allemagne, en Italie, au Saint-Siège, au Pakistan, à Ceylan, en Malaisie, à Singapour, en Australie et en Nouvelle-Zélande. On a ajouté au tour un bref arrêt en Indonésie à une date ultérieure, et la visite en Nouvelle-Zélande a finalement été écourtée de trois jours à la suite d'un rapport sur la maladie de la mère du premier ministre Diefenbaker. Voir Robinson à Smith, le 19 août 1958, MAE/12687-40.
Plans for a world tour were completed by the Department of External Affairs and approved by Prime Minister Diefenbaker by August19, 1958. Between October 29 and December 14, the Prime Minister, after leaving North America from New York, was scheduled to visit the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Holy See, Pakistan, Ceylon, Malaya, Singapore, Australia and NewZealand. A brief stop in Indonesia was added to the tour at a later date and the NewZealand visit was ultimately shortened by three days as a result of a report of the illness of Prime Minister Diefenbaker's mother. See Robinson to Smith, August19, 1958, DEA/12687-40.