822.628 Seaboy/6
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Ecuador (Gonzalez)
Sir: Reference is made to your despatch No. 127 of September 17, 1935,15 with further reference to the Department’s instruction No. 23 of June 1, 1935, relative to the definition of the territorial waters or marginal seas of Ecuador and the detention by the local authorities of the American fishing vessel Seaboy, and to your despatch No. 74 of June 18, 1935,15 with which you transmitted a copy of your note addressed to the Foreign Office in compliance with this instruction.
You state that you have pressed for a reply to your note without success, due to a difference of opinion on the question between the Foreign Office and the Ministry of War. In view of the prospective enforcement of the fishing regulations to be anticipated as a result of the purchase of the yacht Ara for this purpose by the Ecuadoran Government, you inquire whether it is the desire of the Department that you press for a reply to the communication in question or that you allow the matter to remain pending.
As you report that the Foreign Office has intimated to you that it is opposed to the extreme views of the Ministry of War in this matter, it is the opinion of the Department that you should allow a reasonable time for the two Ministries to discuss the matter further and to reach an agreement. Unless some incident should arise which, in your opinion, requires immediate action, you should, for the present, allow the matter to remain pending.
Very truly yours,