§ Captain Gammansasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he has any information concerning the actual arrival from Vladivostock of ships carrying food and medical supplies for British and American prisoners of war in Japanese hands.
§ Mr. EdenThe position about these supplies is as follows. Early in May the United States Government received from the Japanese Government through the Protecting Power, an offer to send a Japanese ship to a Soviet port at regular intervals to pick up relief supplies which were shipped to Vladivostock last autumn and to transport them to Japan, together with additional relief supplies and mail for Allied nationals interned in the Far East which would be sent subsequently by way of Soviet territory. The Soviet Government have expressed their willingness to co-operate and have named a convenient Soviet Pacific port adjacent to Vladivostock where the relief supplies already on Soviet territory may be picked up by a Japanese ship. Alternatively, they have suggested that the supplies might be sent overland and they have offered to deliver them to the Japanese authorities at a convenient frontier railway station. The Soviet Government have also named an equally accessible port where such relief supplies and mail as may be shipped in the future may be picked up by Japanese ships. The Japanese Government have been informed of these suggestions through the Protecting Power, and it is hoped that in the near future the supplies will be forwarded and distributed.