Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1941, The Far East, Volume V

893.154/389½

The British Embassy to the Department of State ⁹⁹

Memorandum

One of the difficulties likely to arise over the despatch of lease-lend goods to China via Burma is that they may arrive in Burma faster than they can be forwarded to China owing to the limited carrying capacity of the Chinese section of the Burma road. Under present conditions the carrying capacity of the road is estimated at not more than about twelve to fifteen thousand tons a month on an average. This limitation is due to interruption on the Chinese side of the frontier, caused partly by bombing and landslides and partly by mismanagement. There has been no breakdown on the Burma side either by road or rail, and the maximum capacity of the Burmese transport system far exceeds that of the Chinese section of the route.

There is in consequence of these prevailing conditions a danger that the port and warehouse facilities at Rangoon may become seriously overcrowded. As Rangoon, in the event of war with Japan, would be a bombing target, it is essential that such congestion should be avoided.

It is therefore urgently desirable that steps should be taken to regulate the flow of lease-lend goods from the United States in accordance with the capacity of the Chinese section of the road to carry such goods. It is suggested that the United States authorities should, in consultation with the Chinese authorities, themselves devise suitable arrangements for this purpose, and for deciding questions of priority.

In order to facilitate the turn-round of shipping and to avoid congestion at wharves, it is desirable that ships should arrive at Rangoon at more or less regular intervals, and that the authorities in Rangoon should be notified well in advance, both of the nature of the goods intended to be transported to China, and of arrival dates at Rangoon. This could be done through Sir Ashley Sparks, the Representative in New York of the British Ministry of War Transport.

The authorities at Rangoon could similarly notify the United States authorities through the Ministry of War Transport of the current transport situation in order that shipment and handling capacity could be kept as far as possible in equilibrium.

Washington , September 23, 1941.

99. Left on September 24 with the Assistant Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Adams) by the First Secretary of the British Embassy (Dening).