KEEN SATISFACTION

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21209, 4 September 1940, Page 7

KEEN SATISFACTION

ANGLO-AMERICAN ACCORD REINFORCEMENT OF NAVY DESTROYERS’ GREAT USE (Official Wireless) (Received Sep. 4, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 3 The keen satisfaction felt here at the successful conclusion of the British-American agreements will be readily appreciated, for it has been no secret that Britain has been anxious to acquire these destroyers, which will provide a timely reinforcement of the British Navy in its task of maintaining control of the Atlantic. They are needed for convoy work, for dealing with submarines, for keeping open the sea channels through which pass imports and exports between this country and the Americas and other parts of the world. Their transfer is of exceptional value at this time in supplementing Britain’s present strength before the destroyers now under construction go into service. On the other side of the question, by the use of leases for air bases in British territories the United States will strengthen her defences in the area of the Panama Canal—a vital strategic link between the Atlantic and the Pacific. As Mr Churchill made clear in the House of Commons on August 20 no transfer of sovereignty is involved. The administrations in the territories affected have been consulted and concur in the measures proposed, and the same is true of the Dominion Governments. The defence requirements of the British commonwealth and the United States tend to overlap in the Western Hemisphere and parallel negotiations cn this subject have been proceeding between the United States and Canada. Mutual Confidence and Goodwill Obviously an agreement -of such material importance could not have been reached without an atmosphere of mutual confidence and goodwill. It affords an example of the manner in which the democracies can ensure through negotiation their own and common interests. The consideration received by the United States for the 50 destroyers 1 consists of leases of those territories adjacent to the Panama Canal and which are therefore of primary value for the defence of the United States itself. The leases in Newfoundland, etc., come rather into the category of a contribution towards the common interest in the-defence of the Western Hemisphere.

It is expected that this highly important agreement with the United States will be the subject of a statement by Mr Churchill in the House of Commons on Thursday.