Minister to U. S.

COMMONWEALTH (British Commonwealth of Nations)

Desmond Fitzgerald, Free State Minister of External Affairs, announced in the Dail Eireann (Irish Chamber of Deputies) that Timothy A. Smiddy, onetime Professor of Economics at University College, Cork, had been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of the Irish Free State at Washington.

The Foreign Minister said the matter had not reached the stage at which an announcement could be made that Professor Smiddy was persona grata to the U. S. Government. No information as to when the Professor would take up his duties could therefore be supplied.

Professor Smiddy has been considered an unofficial representative of the Free State at Washington for some time, but was not recognized as such by the U. S. Government, which had declined to enter into diplomatic relations with British dependencies until official notice of approval had been received through the British Ambassador. The duties of the Irish Minister would, it was said, be outlined by the British Ambassador at Washington.