868.48/3320
The Second Secretary of the British Embassy (Ritchie) to Mr. Foy D. Kohler of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs
Dear Mr. Kohler: About a month ago you mentioned to Mr. Murray45 the provision of funds to pay the charter costs of the Swedish ships carrying wheat for the relief of the Greek population. We inquired from London what were the financial arrangements for the scheme, and we have now received the following information in reply.
Although the Canadian Government arranged to supply the wheat as a free gift, the British Government thought the Greek Government would probably wish to be associated with the scheme and to meet the cost of chartering the Swedish vessels. It was understood that the Greek Government had dollar resources available which they could use for this purpose.
The Greek Government agreed to pay the charter monies and the charterparties which are in the name of the Swedish Red Cross were signed by the Greek Chargé d’Affaires in Stockholm on behalf of his Government. The Swedish Government and ship owners insisted upon the guarantee of the British Government or the United States Government, and in order to avoid any possible delay the British Minister at Stockholm conveyed a private guarantee to the Swedish Government. This is for your confidential information, since the Greek Government have not been told that we were asked for this guarantee.
The position, therefore, is that the Greek Government are directly responsible for all expenditure in connection with the charter of the ships, and the British Government will only be called upon under this guarantee if they are unable to pay. We should warmly welcome anything which contributes to the success of the scheme and if the Greek Government were having difficulty in finding the necessary funds, and the United States Government were willing to assist them, we should be happy to see an arrangement concluded for such assistance. In our view, any such arrangement should be [Page 781] made directly between the United States Government and the Greek Government, to whom this matter has not yet been mentioned.
Yours sincerely,
- J. D. Murray, Second Secretary of the British Embassy.↩