Office of the Historian

811.5241/179

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

London, March 13, 1931.
[Received March 26.]
No. 1752

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instruction No. 694, March 3, 1931 (File No. 811.5241/178), concerning the Convention concluded between the United States and Great Britain on March 2, 1899, relative to the disposal of real and personal property in the respective countries, and in view of the last paragraph thereof to enclose a copy of the note forwarded by this Embassy to the Foreign Office, dated March 13, 1931.

Respectfully yours,

(For the Ambassador)
Ray Atherton

Counselor of Embassy
[Page 140]
[Enclosure]

The American Ambassador (Dawes) to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Henderson)

London, March 13, 1931.
No. 1100

Sir: Adverting to your note No. A 324/324/45 of January 23, 1931, and to previous correspondence regarding the Convention signed at Washington on March 2, 1899, between the United Kingdom and the United States relative to the disposal of real and personal property in the respective countries, under instructions from the Secretary of State I have the honor to advise you, with reference to the inquiry in the second paragraph thereof whether my Government would now agree to the Convention being applied to the dependencies mentioned in your note No. A 1973/1001/45 of March 24, 1930, that the Government of the United States will agree to the application of the Convention to those dependencies.

My Government will not interpose any objection to a proposal for the insertion of a provision in any supplementary convention which may be concluded as a result of this correspondence giving His Majesty’s Government the right to give notice of the application of the Convention to any British colony or protectorate or to any mandated territory in respect of which the mandate is exercised by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom without any limitation as to time.

With respect to the request contained in the fourth paragraph of your note first above mentioned for a formal assurance from my Government that the application of the Convention to a territory under His Majesty’s protection or authority ipso facto confers the benefits of the Convention on British protected persons belonging to that territory, I am further instructed to state that my Government believes it would be advisable to have an express provision in the proposed convention specifically conferring on persons belonging to territories under His Majesty’s protection who may not be British subjects and on persons belonging to territories under the protection of the United States who are not citizens of the United States the benefits which the Convention confers on British subjects and American citizens belonging to dependencies to which the Convention is applied. As the Convention is subject to interpretation by the courts of the United States, such a definite provision specifically covering this subject would seem to be necessary. It is also desired to have the provision reciprocal so that it would confer the benefits of the Convention upon persons entitled to the protection of the United States who are not American citizens but who belong to the territories under its jurisdiction to which the Convention may be applied.

I have [etc.]

(For the Ambassador)
Ray Atherton

Counselor of Embassy

[As a result of these negotiations, a supplementary treaty on tenure and disposition of real and personal property between the United States, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand was signed at Washington on May 27, 1936—Department of State Treaty Series No. 964; 55 Stat. 1101.]