File No. 611.519/474
The Chargé in Great Britain (Laughlin) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6.30 p. m.]
4878. In reply to representations based on communication from Embassy at Paris regarding white list, Foreign Office replies in sense of following:
The list in question comprises the names of those neutral vessels which have been noted for favorable treatment in regard to supply of oil or coal fuel in virtue of their owners’ acceptance of certain conditions which it has been found indispensable to formulate in view of the extreme importance which attaches to securing a proper control of that supply and insuring that no trade [Page 444] is carried on or other service performed by firms or persons who are supplied with British fuel, in the interest of countries with which Great Britain and her allies are at war or of the subjects of those countries.
The conditions above alluded to are of necessity subject to certain variations rendering them applicable to different circumstances of the various steamship companies and others desirous of securing bunkering facilities for their vessels in different parts of the world, but they have no other object than that indicated above.