FOREIGN SHIPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 April 1941, Page 5

FOREIGN SHIPS

ACQUISITION IN UNITED STATES PRESIDENT SEEKS &ARLY ACTION. OPENING WAY TO TRANSFERS TO BRITAIN. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, April 22. President Roosevelt conferred with Congressional leaders, urging speedy action on the pending legislation authorising him to acquire foreign ships tied up in United States ports. It is expected that when given authority he will release an equivalent tonnage to Britain, Meanwhile the Coastguard is expediting arrangements for the transfer of its biggest cutters to the navy. The House Naval Committee has approved a measure authorising the expenditure of 50,000,000 dollars for the construction of bases for the handling of small naval craft along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

BUILDING PLANS STABILISATION OF LABOUR CONDITIONS. WASHINGTON, April. 21. Mr Sidney Hillman, labour chief of ihe Defence Commission, told a Senate committee that a shipbuilding agreement could be expected whereby employers and employees would agree that there would be no strikes and no lock-outs in the shipbuilding industry throughout the country. He added that a stabilisation agreement on these lines was already operating on the Pacific Coast.