File No. 763.72112/2390

The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State

No. 3223

Sir: With reference to the Department’s instruction No. 3197 of February 8, and to previous correspondence, relative to the shipment of fruit from Mediterranean countries and Portugal to the Netherlands without consignment to the Netherlands Oversea Trust, and the desire of the Government of the United States that the same privileges be extended to American fruit as those granted to fruit from Spain and other Mediterranean countries, I have the honor to enclose herewith, for the information of the Department, a copy of a note which has been received from the Foreign Office in reply to the representations of the Embassy in this connection.

I have [etc.]

Walter Hines Page
[Enclosure]

The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Grey) to the American Ambassador (Page)

No. 42414/X

Your Excellency: In reply to the memorandum which you were so good as to address to me on the 2d March regarding the shipment of fruit from the Mediterranean countries and Portugal to the Netherlands, I have the honour [Page 504] to state that the concession whereby fruit from the Mediterranean countries and Portugal might be shipped to the Netherlands without consignment to the Netherlands Oversea Trust was originally made to the Trust acting on behalf of Dutch trade in return for the advantages which the arrangement with the Trust accorded to His Majesty’s Government.

The concession in question was extended to Spanish fruits not as a concession to the Spanish Government but as a further concession to Dutch trade as carried on by a Dutch steamship company—the Royal Netherlands Steamship Company—and because Spain being a Mediterranean country and the privilege applying to Mediterranean countries, His Majesty’s Government could not fairly exclude Spanish fruits from the concession.

I would, however, observe that there has been no question of cooperation on the part of the Netherlands Government in this matter. The whole arrangement was concluded with the Netherlands Oversea Trust and no agreements have been negotiated with the Netherlands Government on the matter.

I would add that all dried fruits are now excluded from the concession and must be consigned to the Netherlands Oversea Trust in future, and that the extent to which fresh fruits from the Mediterranean may be shipped to Holland free of consignment to the Trust by the Dutch steamship line in question has been considerably curtailed as the result of further negotiations with the Netherlands Oversea Trust and the steamship company.

I have [etc.]

[File copy not signed]