811.114 Belgium/145

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Belgium (Morris)

No. 256

Sir: The receipt is acknowledged of your despatch No. 506 of July 24, 1935,53 enclosing a copy and translation of a note from the Belgian [Page 427] Foreign Office stating, with reference to the adoption of a system of landing certificates or other method of control in order to prevent the use of Belgian ports as bases for the smuggling of spirits into the United States, that the considerations mentioned in a previous note55 still prevail.

The decision of the Belgian authorities in this matter has been noted with regret. However, it is hoped that, as stated in the note from the Foreign Office, they may be able to find some means of offering indirect assistance to this Government in the suppression of alcohol smuggling.

In this connection you are requested to inform them that the steamer Trajan (presumably the Norwegian steamer of that name) left Antwerp, July 25, 1935, for St. Pierre-Miquelon and St. John, New Brunswick, after having loaded at Antwerp 14,838 cases of alcohol which is undoubtedly intended for smuggling into the United States.

Copies of your despatch and its enclosures have been forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury and the American Consul General at Antwerp, Belgium.

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:
William Phillips
  1. Not printed.
  2. Note verbale dated September 18, 1929, transmitted in the Embassy’s despatch No. 488, September 19, 1929; the note verbale contained the statement that “it would not seem possible to exact from ships the obligation, in the cases in question, of producing a landing certificate.” (811.114 Belgium/128)