811.114 Belgium/178: Telegram
The Ambassador in Belgium (Morris) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 29—1:55 p.m.]
94. Embassy’s despatch 641, November 18, 1935 re alcohol smuggling. In a conversation with Commander Thompson and me on November 27 Mr. van Zeeland reiterated that he had no legal power to stop the shipment of alcohol from Antwerp but promised that he would give instructions to the authorities at Antwerp to make it as difficult as possible for the alcohol shippers to continue their shipments from Antwerp. The Foreign Office telephoned the Embassy this afternoon that under instructions from the Central Government the port authorities at Antwerp boarded the Norwegian steamship Bodo this morning and found that the certificate of navigability was not in order and that the life boats were not in good condition and that this information had been communicated immediately to the Norwegian Consul General at Antwerp for his information and appropriate action. Foreign Office added that the maritime police had found that the agent of the steamship Bodo was not a responsible person and that therefore they had made him put up a bond to cover pilotage. Foreign Office also said that the Consul General has been informed that the firm in Antwerp from which the alcohol in question has been bought in the past has received no further orders and that the “people in question” will probably now make their purchases in Hamburg.