As instructed by Cabinet Minute of January 18,? I called in the Czechoslovak Chargé d'Affaires this afternoon in connection with the recent expulsion of two members of the Canadian Air Attaché's staff in Prague.

I outlined to Mr. Klima, who knew little or nothing about the whole matter, the incidents which had already taken place in which the locally engaged staff of our Legation had been arrested or prevented from working and have now led to the laying of unsupported charges against the two Canadian N.C.O.'s, Danko and Vanier. I informed Mr. Klima that I was instructed by the Government to say that the situation at our post in Prague was highly unsatisfactory. It was obviously impossible to conduct the legitimate business of the Legation under such conditions, which did not reflect relations between our two countries as we hoped them to be.

I went on to say that the Government wished an answer to the question as to whether or not it was the intention of the Czech Government by their interference with our staff to make it impossible for the Canadian Government to maintain diplomatic relations with the Government of Czechoslovakia. As to what steps the Government would be prepared to take with regard to the present situation, this would be a matter for further consideration.

Mr. Klima told me, what I did not know, that he was ordered to return to Prague some two weeks ago and was leaving next Tuesday. I asked him if he was returning to work with the Foreign Ministry and he rather carefully did not confirm this but said he was returning to Prague. He said, however, that he would telegraph at once to his Government for the required information. On his departure Mr. [Zdenék] Roskot, Second Secretary, would be Chargé d'Affaires in Ottawa. Mr. Klima informed us that Mr. Roskot had been posted recently from Prague in order to take over the post after Mr. Klima's departure.

In answer to my question, Mr. Klima explained that the Czechoslovakian staff in Canada would now consist of a Second Secretary, a Commercial Attaché, with an Assistant, and a Consul General in Montreal, together with clerical staff locally employed.

It was my own impression and that of the two other officers of the Department who were present that Mr. Klima was intensely depressed by the whole affair and that he had been kept entirely in the dark about it.

Both the United Kingdom and the United States, not to mention other countries, have experienced an abundance of similar interference throughout the satellite countries. They have adopted a policy of retaliation. For example, last March, when Czechoslovakia demanded the immediate recall of a clerk in the United Kingdom Embassy on charges of espionage, the United Kingdom demanded the recall of the assistant to the Czech Commercial Attaché in London. Last October two employees of the American Embassy in Prague charged with espionage activities were requested to leave the country within twenty four hours. The United States retaliated by requesting the withdrawal from the United States of the Czech Consul General in New York and of a member of the Czech Embassy in Washington.

I have arranged with the Chief of the Air Staff for the return of Sergeant Danko and Corporal Vanier to be expedited as much as possible, and for them to be interviewed by the C.A.S. and a senior officer of this Department on their arrival.

If, as I have no doubt, the charges against them turn out to be baseless, I would recommend that the Canadian Government demand the withdrawal, as persona lion grata, of at least two members of the Czech staff in this country. Appropriate investigations have been made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the selection of the personnel to be withdrawn could be made on the basis of their findings.

A.D.P. H[EENEY]