Office of the Historian

File No. 300.115/136

The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State

American Embassy,
London, August 29, 1914.
[Received 5:30 p.m.]

[Telegram]

508. With a view to removing some misapprehensions that have arisen the British Government’s committee on diverted cargoes have issued the following statement as regards dealings with such cargoes:

Except in cases of cargo in an enemy ship, or cargo in respect of which a question arises of its constituting enemy cargo or contraband (whether absolute or conditional contraband), the instructions issued to collectors of customs provide for their allowing:

(a)
Discharge from the ship and delivery out of customs control of all cargoes consigned to the United Kingdom.
(b)
Discharge from the ship and delivery out of customs control of all cargoes in ships diverted from a foreign destination to a port in the United Kingdom, if the owners or their agents prefer to discharge the cargo in the United Kingdom.
(c)
Conveyance to a British, allied, or neutral destination of all cargoes which have been brought to a port of the United Kingdom merely for the purpose of being immediately forwarded in the same or another ship to a British, allied, or neutral destination.

American Ambassador