Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The British Commonwealth; Europe, Volume III

842.20 Defense/2–1447

The Canadian Minister in the United States (Stone) to the Chief of the Division of British Commonwealth Affairs (Hickerson)

Washington, February 14, 1947.

My Dear Mr. Hickerson: With reference to the public statement on joint defence which was released on February 12th by the United States and Canadian Governments,¹ I have been instructed by my government to write to you in the matter of Principle No. 4 therein, which includes the following sentence:

“Reciprocally each country will continue to provide, with a minimum of formality, for the transit through its territory and its territorial waters of military aircraft and public vessels of the other country.”

In the view of the Canadian Government, this Principle in no way infringes on the complete jurisdiction which each country maintains over its territorial and boundary waters. The Canadian Government would be glad to learn whether the United States Government agrees with this interpretation.²

Yours sincerely,

Thomas A. Stone

1. Supra.
2. Hickerson replied, in a letter to Stone dated February 19, that the United States Government was in accord with the Canadian Government’s interpretation of principle No. 4 of the February 12 statement (842.20 Defense/2–1447).