711.5627/79
The Minister in the Netherlands (Emmet) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 25.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department’s Instruction No. 160, of July 17th, 1935, relating to the negotiations between the United States and the Netherlands over the final draft of the Air Navigation Convention embodied in an exchange of notes between the two Governments signed on November 16, 1932.
This morning a note was handed to the Secretary-General of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, copy enclosed,28 explaining the Department’s new proposals and outlining the reasons which made it necessary for our Government to make changes in the draft already agreed upon by the Netherland Government. In handing this note to Jhr. Snouck Hurgronje, Mr. Wilson gave such additional explanation as was possible and expressed the hope that the new amended Article 2 would prove acceptable in view of the fact that its text conformed substantially to that of similar articles in the Air Navigation Agreements concluded between most European countries. Jhr. Snouck Hurgronje said that he was not at the moment as familiar as he should be with the details of the agreement but that he thought there would probably be no objection. He added that the matter of chief practical interest for the Netherlands, aside from all questions of principle, was the Philippines and asked if there would be any difficulty to anticipate in connection with the establishment of a Dutch Air Line from their colonies to the Philippines. Mr. Wilson replied that while [Page 603] the Legation obviously could not give any guarantee as to what would be the course of action of our Government, the draft under consideration with its various amendments made provision for the future in respect to the establishment of such a line.
Respectfully yours,
[No further correspondence on the subject of this proposed agreement has been found in the files of the Department.]
- Not printed.↩