LEND-LEASE PLAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24285, 28 May 1942, Page 3

LEND-LEASE PLAN

PKOPOSAL TO RUSSIA

ECONOMIC RELATIONS (Heed. 12.20 a.m.) NEW YORK, May 26 Mr. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State in the United States, conferred with M. Litvinoff, the Russian Ambassador, for 45 minutes, and presented a document, designed to bring the Lend-Lease arrangements with Russia into harmony with those of the other United Nations under a master plan providing for increased aid and improved economic relations. Britain was the first to subscribe to the plan, and Russia apd China are now considering it. The immediate and direct purpose of this draft of the Lend-Lease agreement is to place the Soviet in line with Britain, the United States and other United Nations, not only in the war production programme, but post-war efforts to restore world trade along the liberal lines advocated by Mr. Hull. The New York Times says that, in effect, the proposal would formalise the Lend-Lease programme with Russia without any binding terms of settlement necessarily being called for until after the war. Since last November the United States had granted the Soviet credits of 2,000,000,000 dollars under the condition that repayments are to be made within from five to ten years after the war. Under the new plan, the condition for repayment would be erased, but active conversations might begin at any time on the economic relations in the postwar world, even before the end of the war. A press agency report says the Russian acceptance of the agreement would bring the Soviet more than ever before into the Allied family of nations, making her more than a mere military ally. PATROL SHIP HIT ATTACK OFF MARTINIQUE (Rccd. 5.35 p.m.) "WASHINGTON, May 26 A communique from the United States Navy Department says.that the destroyer Blakeley, used during the last war, has been struck by an enemy torpedo in the Caribbean area. She reached port with ten of her crew missing and six injured. The submarine that attacked the ship, says the American Associated Press correspondent at , St. Lucia, in the Windward Islands, operated within the French territorial waters of Martinique, which the Blakeley was patrolling when attacked. The Blakeley has a displacement of 1090 tons. She is armed with four 4in., guns and has a speed of 35 knots. Sho was launched in September, 1918. VETERANS OF THE AIR BACK TO DEFEND AUSTRALIA CANBERRA, May 26 " Many Royal Australian Air Force men who fought overseas have been recalled to buttress the resistance of the Allied forces defending Australia, said the Minister for Air, Mr. A. S. Drakeford. This was another indication that Australia was gradually gathering her air power to resist the Japanese. Mr. Drakeford said that when Japan entered the war many Australian pilots were eager to return to their homeland. The Government had since consented to withdraw some of them from the overseas battlefields, and intended to use their experience to the full in the defence of Australia. In many of the batches of men who had returned to Australia there were fighter and bomber, reconnaissance and night fighter air crews. They had seen active service in tho Battle for Britain; they had seen it in devastating forays against tho Nazi war effort, and in exacting North Sea and Atlantic patrols; in convoy work, and in the defence of tho British Isles from night raids. FEW BOMBS ON ENGLAND (Reed. 6.35 p.m.) LONDON, May 26 Three enemy aircraft made a brief raid on coastal towns in England this afternoon. Some slight damage was caused, but according to reports only one person was injured. A single enemy aeroplane dropped bombs harmlessly at a point on the south-west coast of England. HEAVY AXIS LOSSES LONDON, May 2? Seventeen Axis aircraft were destroyed by Allied fighters over Malta during the week ended last Sunday. Over the island yesterday two Italian fighters were shot down by tho Royal Air Force without loss to themselves. There had been some bombing over scattered areas during tho previous evening#