U.S. PROTEST TO BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22909, 4 January 1940, Page 3

U.S. PROTEST TO BRITAIN

INTERFERENCE WITH MAILS

GERMAN AND NEUTRAL ADDRESSES (united phess association —COPYBTGHT.) (Received January 3, 12.10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, January 2. The United States has sent a Note to Britain formally protesting against interference with American mails bound for Germany. It has listed four instances of seizure affecting 1250 sacks addressed to Germany and neutrals. The Note stated that the United States readily admitted the : right of Britain to censor mail originating in or destined for the United Kingdom, or mail which normally, passes through the United Kingdom for transmission to its final destination, but it could not admit the right to interference with American mail on the high seas. , „ _"•■-'■• The Note cited The Hague Convention as recognising the mail of. neutrals and belligerents as inviolable on the high seas, and it tended that the rule obtained for mail on ships which were required by the British authorities to put into a British port. . '.■_ .. The Note : added that the United States Government regarded the practice of taking mail from vessels which were induced to call at British control bases as "particularly objectionable." ' y It concluded: "The United States . i Government feels compelled to make a vigorous protest against these practices and expresses the hope that it will receive early assurances that they are being discontinued.

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