 Created by the "External Affairs Act" in June 1943, the new Department incorporated an older office of the same name (dealing with island territories) and those sections of the Prime Minister's office which had previously co-ordinated diplomacy.In 1947, a resident trade representative was appointed in Japan, followed by the establishment of legations in Paris (1949) and The Hague (1950).By the late 1950s, these three posts, along with Washington, had been upgraded to embassies —.