740.00112 European War 1939/2211½

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)

The British Ambassador called to see me this morning. The Ambassador brought up the question of the release of French funds by this Government which had made possible the sending of an oil tanker [Page 263] by the French to Casablanca. He said that his Government hoped that a navicert would be requested for this shipment in order, as he phrased it, “that the situation might be made tidy”. I said that Mr. Atherton had already spoken to me about this question and that I trusted that a navicert would be promptly issued by the British authorities. The Ambassador said this would be done at once. In this connection he expressed the earnest hope that some measure of supervision would be undertaken by the American consular authorities in North Africa so as to make sure that this supply of oil would be consumed in North Africa and that no portion of it could be sent to metropolitan France. I told the Ambassador that this question of supervision was one of the matters which Mr. Murphy was now discussing with the French authorities in North Africa.

S[umner] W[elles]