§ Mr. Rhys Daviesasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how it comes about that, having received a number of old destroyers from the American Government in return for leasing bases for 99 years within the British Empire to that country, His Majesty's Government is now called upon to pay the sum of £1,400,000 in connection with the same transaction; and whether this is the end of His Majesty's Government's liabilities on this score?
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§ Mr. AsshetonUnder the Agreement of 27th March, 1941, of which I am sending my hon. Friend a copy, the compensation due to owners of property expropriated in connection with the establishment of the bases was a liability of the United States; nor has His Majesty's Government any further liability under that agreement. However, since the date of the agreement, the system of Mutual Aid has come into, being, and in the spirit of those arrangements His Majesty's Government offered of their own free will to assume this outstanding liability under reciprocal aid. Their offer was accepted in the same spirit by the United States Government. His Majesty's Government will be prepared to extend this offer to any additional property which the United States Government may acquire under Article 27 of the Agreement.