File No. 656.119/104
The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 15, 1.45 p.m.]
7967. Your 6011, December 11, 5 p.m.,1 and my 7940, December 12, 8 p.m.1 Before Taylor’s departure numerous conferences were held with British, French and Italian representatives. A list of rations was drawn up by mutual Allied agreement and a set of proposals [Page 1156] was agreed upon for presentation to the Dutch representatives. These proposals which were presented to the Dutch representatives at the first conference held December 11, embody the following main principles.
- 1.
- That there should be no export to Holland of foodstuffs or fertilizer as long as Holland exports agricultural produce to Germany but the diversion of exportable surplus of Dutch agricultural produce in general should remain as at present provided for by the existing agricultural agreement.
- 2.
- That all vessels subject to Dutch requisition which are not required to lift the rations to be agreed upon, or to conduct necessary Dutch inter-colonial trade, or to fetch licensed coal from Great Britain to Holland, except 100,000 tons gross considered ships suitable for the Belgian Relief Commission, should be placed at the disposal of the Allies as agreed between them for use as far as possible outside the war zone, only as far as insisted upon by the Dutch, this being subject to negotiations as they had already intimated they would not be able to accept proposal which required them to send their vessels in the war zone.
The question of the export of horses to Germany was not dealt with.
In this first meeting also presided over by Lord Robert Cecil, the Dutch were informed that the question of the export of sand, gravel, timber, et cetera, and the transit traffic in these same materials was an important one but at the instance of the American delegates the discussion of the question was to be reserved for the present by the Allies pending decision as to the attitude to be taken on it by the American Government.
In a second and subordinate committee members [meeting with?] the Dutch to consider rations held on December 11, the principle of not allowing fodder or fertilizer to be imported into Holland was maintained and justified on the grounds that if such traffic were allowed the amount of the exportable surplus in which Germany would share would become larger. The Dutch maintained that this was not the case and Allies stated that they could not change this policy unless proof were advanced by the Dutch that supported their above contention. This the Dutch agreed to submit, delivering it on the night of the 12th. Their attempted proof was examined yesterday and in the opinion of the Allies it was found to have no weight. It was therefore decided to tell the Dutch to-day that they had advanced nothing to cause the Allies to alter principle 1.
A convoy is expected from Holland to-day bringing Van Vollenhoven and Sir Francis Oppenheimer, the British commercial attaché at The Hague.
The Foreign Office has been advised telegraphically by the British Minister at The Hague that Van Vollenhoven returned from [Page 1157] America because he was out of sympathy with the policy of attempting to play off Allies against each other; that he now has full powers to negotiate and has been urged by the Queen to come to an early agreement owing to the increasing seriousness of the situation. It is further reported that he is further prepared to conclude an agreement which will not call for the import of fodder or fertilizers while produce is going from Holland to Germany.