FROM DANGER ZONES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 81, 5 April 1941, Page 9

FROM DANGER ZONES.

ROOSEVELT PLAN. War Material Could Be Taken To Near Suez. fnuo.l Prcs* Association.—Or»nTri;:hT. (Reed. I p.m.) WASHINGTON. April 4. Pre.-i.ient Roosevelt indicated that he contemplated modification of the neutrality proclamation m ponnjt America n ships to carry cargoes, including war MijipHe*. u> th«- vicinity of the Suez via the (Julf of Aden and the Hod Sea. Hie President announced that .->OO.(hki.(hX> dollars worth nf army and navy equipment had already * l.oen released Jo Britain and <.reece under Leaee-or-Lcnd Act. He a]<o re\ea]cd Uiat plans were being drafted to aid ugocdavia.. The Secretary of Stale. Mr. Ordcll Hull, stated that frozen Yugoslav hinds would l»e released in amounts s-uftkicnt to meet its needs. Official sources in Washington ri--vealed that the Lea t*e or Lend programme- at present calls f or the product ion of 1...000 planes. a:j(t merchant >hips. stKtO tanks for Britain, iu addition t<. larpi- <juantitie> of ordnance and food. The majority of the plane* will he l»<.!iilnrs. the tanks are of medium lyp->. Britain has the hope that the piojrraniuie will :»c completed liv -hilv. 1942.

Mr. Roosevelt disclosed that he had ordered the construction of 212 merchant ship* for Britain. It is exported that thc-e will be built in CO nev shipyards and will be ready for sea early in 194 i