most undesirable that any of the visiting warships should touch at an Australian port before the arrival of a division at the seat of the Federal Government. In view of the importance attached to this question by the Commonwealth Government, I would express the earnest hope that the interested authorities of the United States will be disposed to take action so as to ensure that disembarkation is carried out at Melbourne some hours earlier than at Sydney, more especially as the Commonwealth Government will then be in session. I am further to point out that if the suggestions contained in this paragraph are carried out, the necessary landing and reception arrangements would be greatly facilitated. I have the honour to request that the Admiral Commanding-inChief be advised to conduct all correspondence relative to the reception of the fleet at Melbourne etc., through the Prime Minister's department, as it is considered that this will avoid all overlapping and confusion. I should be grateful to receive in due course an expression of your views upon the contents of this note, for communication to the Government of Australia. I have [etc.] 811.3347/57 ESME HOWARD The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Howard) WASHINGTON, April 16, 1925. EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to make further reference to your note No. 339, of April 3, 1925, making certain observations on behalf of the Australian Government regarding the plans for the proposed visit of a portion of the American Fleet to Australia and New Zealand next summer. The comments of the Secretary of the Navy on the points raised in your note have now been received. With regard to visits to Australian ports other than Melbourne and Sydney, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, after a recent conference in San Francisco with Mr. Elder,11 has now determined upon the following itinerary, which has been arranged with a view to meeting, as far as possible, the courteous suggestions of Australian and New Zealand authorities, and at the same time having due regard to the requirements of the Fleet. One section of the Fleet will arrive at Melbourne on July 23. It will consist of the Fleet Flagship, one division of three battleships, one division of four light cruisers, and two destroyer squadrons, com prising twenty-eight destroyers with a light cruiser flagship. This section will proceed to Wellington, New Zealand, on August 6, with the exception of the division of four light cruisers, which will depart from Melbourne on August 3, visiting Hobart from August 5 to August 7, and arriving at Wellington, along with the other vessels of this section, on August 11. The other section of the Fleet will arrive at Sydney on July 23, remaining until August 6, when it will proceed to Auckland, New Zealand. This section will consist of the Flagship of the Commanderin-Chief of the Battle Fleet, and two battleship divisions, eight battleships in all. It will arrive at Auckland August 11, and depart therefrom August 25. The auxiliaries of the Fleet, about eleven in number, will be distributed in accordance with then existing needs. You will observe that, in accordance with the desire of the Australian Government, arrival at Melbourne and Sydney will be on the same date. It has further been arranged to have the detachment for Melbourne arrive at a prior hour on July 23. The Commander-in-Chief will be advised to conduct all correspondence relative to the reception of the Fleet at Australian ports through the Prime Minister's Department. Further, the suggestion of the Australian Government relative to steaming as close to the shore as practicable will be forwarded to the Commander-in-Chief. The Secretary of the Navy expresses the belief that the latter will follow this suggestion, having in view the necessities of the Fleet, the local hydrographic conditions and the weather prevailing at the time. Accept [etc.] FRANK B. KELLOGG 811.3347/89: Telegram The British Chargé (Chilton) to the Secretary of State MANCHESTER, Mass., July 24, 1925. I have the honor to communicate to you the following message which I have received by cable from the Governor General of Australia and which His Excellency requests may be passed to the President of the United States: On behalf of the Government and people of Australia I send this message of greeting. To you as President and through you to the people of your great country we are delighted to express our most cordial feelings of friendship and good will in welcoming to Australian points the commander-in-chief, the officers and men of the great fleet of the United States of America. The people of the United States of America have shown to the world its will to peace and its deep desire to strengthen the bonds of friendship between nations. Under the guidance of your government the powers and peoples of the Pacific have given practical effort [effect?] to this will and this desire, and the achievements of the Washington Conference are the happiest augury for the future peace of the world. The visit of the United States Fleet will strengthen the friendship between our peoples and widen and deepen our mutual understanding. Australia trusts that under Divine guidance we shall realize the destiny that lies before us in peace and amity with all the nations of the world. Signed Forster, Governor General. CHILTON 811.3347/89: Telegram The Secretary of State to the Consul at Melbourne (Anderson) WASHINGTON, July 25, 1925-6 p. m. Please deliver the following message to the Governor General in answer to his message sent to the President through the British Embassy: "I have received with appreciation the cordial message you have sent me on behalf of the Government and people of Australia on the occasion of the visit of the American Fleet. I know that the people of Australia join with the people of the United States in their purpose of maintaining the peace of the world. This, I believe, can best be secured through a full and sympathetic understanding between the nations, through faith in their honorable intentions, through their common determination to eliminate causes of possible dispute and their integral fulfillment of international obligations. In questions touching the great region of the Pacific, I am sure that our aims will always be similar, that with the assistance of the other nations which look out on the Pacific peace will be so clearly the established order that it will become a beneficent tradition. It is my earnest hope that this visit of the fleet will draw more closely the bonds of friendship between our two commonwealths that through the understanding so developed it will strengthen our common will for peace. Signed Calvin Coolidge". KELLOGG GREECE LOAN BY ULEN & COMPANY TO THE GREEK GOVERNMENT UNDER A CONTRACT TO BUILD WATERWORKS FOR ATHENS AND THE PIRAEUS 868.151/21 The Greek Minister (Simopoulos) to the Secretary of State [Translation] WASHINGTON, April 15, 1925. MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: I have the honor to inform you that the Hellenic Government has concluded a contract with Ulen and Company, an American organization, for the construction of a waterworks system for the cities of Athens and The Piraeus. For the execution of this contract, Ulen and Company must float for the Greek Government a loan of $10,000,000. The Hellenic Government proposes to offer as security for the service of this loan the money which will be paid by the inhabitants of Athens and The Piraeus for the water which is to be furnished them and also a mortgage on the works which are to be constructed. Although these rights constitute sufficient security for the service of this loan, the Hellenic Government is prepared to offer as subsidiary security for the same purpose, the surplus of the revenues affected to the service of the public debt which are under the control of the International Financial Commission. In view, therefore, of the stipulation in Article 4 of the financial convention signed at Paris in February 1918,1 that "No additional security may be assigned for the service of a foreign loan without the assent of the Governments of the United States, France, and Great Britain," I have the honor to ask you to grant this assent in order that the Hellenic Government may proceed as soon as possible to the settlement of this question which is of a vital interest for the two largest cities of Greece. Please accept [etc.] CH. SIMOPOULOS 'Printed in Greek Debt Settlement: Hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, 70th Cong., 1st sess., on H. R. 10760 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1928), p. 51. 286 868.151/21 The Secretary of State to the Greek Minister (Simopoulos) WASHINGTON, May 5, 1925. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of April 15, 1925, in which you state that a contract has been concluded by the Hellenic Government with Ulen and Company, an American organization, for the construction of a waterworks system for the cities of Athens and The Piraeus. You indicate that for the purpose of executing this contract Ulen and Company must float for the Greek Government a loan of $10,000,000. In this connection you refer to Article 4 of the financial agreement signed at Paris in February 1918 between the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, and France, and the Hellenic Government, and you therefore request that the assent of the United States Government be given for the pledging by Greece of the security offered for the service of the loan of $10,000,000 to be floated by Ulen and Company. In reply, I wish to state that this Government, in view of the purposes the proposed loan is intended to serve, will offer no objection to the pledging of the specific securities mentioned in your note of April 15 which the Greek Government desires to offer for the service of the loan in question. It should also be understood that the present consent by the Government of the United States is given with full reservation of all questions with respect to the agreement of February 1918. Accept [etc.] 868.151/32 FRANK B. KELLOGG The Greek Minister (Simopoulos) to the Secretary of State No. 713 [Translation] WASHINGTON, 7 May, 1925. MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: I have had the honor to receive your letter under date of May 5th by which you inform me that the Government of the United States gives its consent for the flotation of the loan mentioned in my letter of the 15th of April, with reservation of all questions arising under the financial agreement of February 1918. In reply I beg to express to you my sincere thanks for your kind communication and at the same time to bring to your attention that for the purpose of proceeding to immediate execution of provisional works for the furnishing of water a loan of $1,000,000 is indispensable. This preliminary loan will be issued under the same conditions as the preceding one mentioned in my note of April 15th. While communicating this to you I have the honor to beg you, Mr. Secretary of State, to be so kind as to use your intervention in order |