SIGNIFICANT MOVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23085, 9 July 1938, Page 16

SIGNIFICANT MOVE

AMERICA AND ENGLAND CLOSE TIES EVIDENT WAR DEBTS AND AIRCRAFT There is a good deal more than appears on the surface in the placing of British orders for aircraft in the hands of American manufacturers, according to Mr. William J. W ilbur, of New York, who passed through Auckland yesterday by the Monterey, en route to Sydney. In his opinion it represents the first part in the liquidation of the war debts owed by Britain to the United States, and is significant of the close harmony in which the two nations are working. The United States Government sa\t in the character and personality of Mr. Joseph P. Kennedy an opportunity of driving a wedge through the war debts problem, Mr. Wilbur said. Mr. Kennedy was appointed United States Ambassador to Great Britain, and before long it was announced that the British Government had placed orders for large numbers of American aeroplanes for training and reconaissance purposes. It was estimated by observers that one American aircraft corporation was £1,000.000 behind its schedule, so heavy were the orders from England, he continued. The United States, apart from the purely commercial aspect of those orders, realised the value of Britain's friendship, and realised too, the necessity for giving her every assistance in her national defence plan. For those reasons the major aircraft factories were working day and night in America to catch up with the demand. Mr. Wilbur said he believed the situation indicated the close ties which bound the two countries.