U.S. AIRPORT RIGHTS

Grey River Argus, 17 February 1945, Page 5

U.S. AIRPORT RIGHTS

OVERSEA INSTALLATIONS Senate Charges Against British (Rec. 10.5). WASHINGTON, Feb. 15. The United States War Investigating Committee has demanded an early determination of the United States rights in the airports and other installations which it has built throughout the world. The Committee has reported as follows:—(1) The records of the costs of these installations have been poorly, kept. (2) The documents containing the terms of United States rights should be assembled, indexed, and preserved(3) Those titles and rights in installations which at present are not clear should be clarified. (4) Where rights ar e possessed only, possession should not be relinquished without due regard to our national interests. (5) Full information regarding the surpluses in the estimated dismantling costs should b e collected. (6) Future negotiations for real estate rights for military and other war-time installations should be conducted in consultation with the State Department. The Committee said: The lend-lease and the reverse lend-lease accounts are in such a condition that it is impossible to tell with certainty the exact status of the balances for the intra-theatre transactions. This is largely due to a discrepancy in the British and the American accounting methods. The British have refused to supply price invoices on their materials and services. They have ‘charged 42 per cent., on their cost, for transportation, insurance and handling charges on supplies turned over to the United States, while the comparative American charge is only 25 per cent. The British have charged the United States one hundred and seventy-five million dollars for reserve lend-lease material, which our Navy has appraised at only ten million dollars.