SUBMARINE BAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20073, 20 October 1939, Page 7

SUBMARINE BAN

AMERICAN WATERS THREE-MILE LIMIT PANAMA EXCEPTION BELLIGERENTS NAMED (Kloc.- Tel. Copyright—United .Press Assn.) (Reed. Oct. 20, 9 a.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 19. Following the announcement yesterday of tiie proclamation by President Roosevelt stating that American ports and territorial waters are barred to belligerent submarines, which can enter only in the event of force majeure, such as a storm, it was stated that 18 Latin American Governments were expected to issue sjmilar proclamations,, the exceptions being Argentina and Uruguay, who were understood to feel that submarines should be treated identically with other war craft.

President Roosevelt’s action applied only to tiie three-mile limit and not the 300-mile safety zone, since the former is considered sufficient due to •.lie difficulty of fuelling.

President Roosevelt exempted the Panama Cana! Zone. Evidently his theory is that if , is a waterway to be kept open for all nations. He named' as belligerents, France. Germany, the United Kingdom, India Australia, Canada, New Zealand. South Africa and Poland.

There are increasing signs that a general debate in the Senate on tiie proposals for the revision of the Neutrality Act is drawing to a close. The administration leaders are so certain that this is so that they permitted the Senate to go into recess an hour earlier than usual. Both sides predicted that the neutrality resolution would reach the amendment stage at least early next week.