800.85/9–1644
The Secretary of State to the Netherlands Ambassador (Loudon)
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to his Excellency the Ambassador of the Netherlands and has the honor to refer to his note No. HAS–6704 of September 16, 1944 with regard to the control of certain categories of Netherlands shipping.
The special shipping requirements of the Kingdom of the Netherlands referred to by the Ambassador were the subject of a special conference in London on July 26, 1944, attended by the Netherlands Minister of Shipping and Fisheries and Minister of Colonies, the British Minister of War Transport, and a representative of the United States Government. It was agreed that the points raised by the Netherlands Government would be met by the inclusion of the following language as a separate paragraph under Section 7 (c) of the “Agreement on Principles”, which at that time was being discussed there by the Inter-Allied Conference on Shipping Control.
“The fact that these ships are assigned to military requirements shall not prejudice the right of the Governments concerned to discuss with the central authority the measures to be taken to provide shipping for their essential requirements within the scope of paragraph 1.”
This paragraph was later accepted by the Conference and included in the “Agreement on Principles”.
The Department is of the opinion that the language quoted above is adequate to protect the special interests of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to which the Ambassador has reference.