811.114 Reidun/122½
The Assistant Secretary of State (Moore) to the Norwegian Minister (Morgenstierne)
My Dear Mr. Minister: In connection with our note to you of April 23, 1936, in regard to the Norwegian steamer Reidun, I wish to make certain observations in regard to the subject matter of our note which may be of interest to your Government.
You will have observed that in our note, after citing supporting evidence for the assertion, we state that it is impossible to avoid the belief that the late master and other responsible officers of the Reidun, as well as the owners of the vessel, were aware that the contemplated voyage was an employment of the vessel in the smuggling traffic. While we appreciate the efforts made by the Norwegian Government to learn the true facts in the case, we are of the opinion that the owners and officers did not make full disclosures to the Norwegian Government in connection with their statements as to the nature of the particular voyage, and that the Norwegian Government was not fully advised of the actual situation.
As regards the statements in our note respecting the investigation which your Government was good enough to make at our request concerning possible violations of the Norwegian law of June 25, 1926, by Norwegian vessels last year, we recognize, of course, that it is a proper function of the Norwegian Government to determine whether there have been violations of Norwegian law and, while we regret that the decision in the particular cases involved was not otherwise, we do not doubt that the Norwegian Government reached, after a long and [Page 449] careful investigation, a decision in this matter which it deemed to be the correct one.
I am [etc.]