AMERICAN AID FOR BRITAIN

Southland Times, Issue 24460, 13 June 1941, Page 5

AMERICAN AID FOR BRITAIN

SCALE 10 TIMES BIGGER THAN LAST YEAR 2,000,000 TONS OF SHIPPING TO BE AVAILABLE LONDON, June 11. President Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, has reported on the assistance the United States is giving Britain. Two million tons of shipping are to be made available. It will include cargo ships and oil tankers. In addition, £110,000,000 is being allocated for the building of new ships. Allied naval and merchant vessels are being refitted and equipped in United States yards. Food valued at millions of pounds is being sent to Britain. The President reported that approximately £15,000,000 worth of materials has been delivered to Britain and Canada in the two months since the Lease or Lend Bill became law. Officials of the Defence Department report that aid to Britain is at present on a scale 10 times greater than that of last year. They summarized the position thus: AIRCRAFT Exports of planes for the first five months of 1941 have been 12 times the exports for the same period in 1940. Aeroplane engine exports in that period have been 10 times as great as the exports for the first five months of 1940. OTHER PRODUCTS Exports of iron and steel products and machine tools have been three times as great in dollar value as the exports for the first five months of 1940. Seventeen times the amount of firearms and explosives sent in the first four months of 1940 was sent in the same period in 1941 and 90 times the amount of ammunition was sent. DELIVERY OF MUNITIONS Mr Roosevelt said that over four billion dollars had been allocated out of the seven billion dollars provided. “We will not only help to overpower the Axis with munitions, but we will see to it that the munitions are delivered where they are most' effective to weaken and defeat the aggressors,” he said. “Implementing this pledge immediately, I am making available to Britain 2,000,000 gross tons of cargo ships and oil tankers, but this is not enough. Adequate shipping must be assured. Over 75,000,000 dollars worth of munitions have already been transferred, but this is only the trickle of what will become a torrent.

“British and Allied warships are c being repaired by us and many ships 1 are being equipped with mine protection and armed against raiders. We have supplied, and will supply, planes, guns, ammunition and other defence articles in ever-increasing quantities to Britain, China and the other democracies. SUPPLIES FOR MIDDLE EAST The White House announced that United States war supplies to the British forces in the Middle East would be arriving shortly at a Red Sea port. Mr W. Averill Harriman, the “Lend or Lease” co-ordinator in. Britain, is proceeding from London to supervise the unloading. Twenty-six ships comprise the early future arrivals. The New York Herald-Tribune states that 10 ships requisitioned by the United States Maritime Commission will be transferred to a Pan American registry and sailed under charter to United States lines. This move will enable substantial quantities of American materials to reach the ports of the United Kingdom without violating the Neutrality Law. The vessels, however, will carry foreign crews. It is reported that many foreign ships seized by the United States will also be transferred to a Pan American flag, thus making them cargo carriers to England.