Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 57 Part 2.djvu/638

 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OTHER THAN TREATIES [57 STAT. April 10, 1943 Agreement between the United States of America and Canada respecting IE.A. S. 362] access to Alaska Highway. Effected by exchange of notes signed at Ottawa April 10, 1943. The American Charge d'Affaires ad interim to the Canadian Under Secretary of State for External Affairs LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Ottawa, Canada, April 10, 1943. MY DEAR MR. ROBERTSON: The question has been raised in Washington as to whether the two phrases found in the American-Canadian exchange of notes of March 6 Stat. 1458 . 17-18, 1942, regarding the post-war use of the Alaska Highway, apply equally to the use of the existing Canadian highways which would have to be used in order to reach the southern terminus of the Alaska Highway from the United States. You will recall that the notes provide that at the conclusion of the war "that part of the highway which lies in Canada shall become in all respects an integral part of the Canadian highway system, subject to the understanding that there shall at no time be imposed any discriminatory conditions in relation to the use of the road as between Canadian and United States civilian traffic." Elsewhere the Canadian Government agreed "to waive import duties, transit or similar charges on shipments originating in the United States and to be transported over the highway to Alaska, or originating in Alaska and to be transported over the highway to the United States." Although it was originally intended that most of the traffic over the Alaska Highway would be routed to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, by rail, it has, as you know, been found expedient to send certain vehicles and transport certain supplies by highway from the United States to Dawson Creek en route to Alaska. My Government feels that it is a natural inference from the language quoted above that United States vehicles should be allowed to use the roads leading from the boundary to the Alaska Highway under conditions similar to those governing the use of the Highway itself. Sincerely yours, LEWIS CLARK Charge d'Affaires ad interim. NORMAN A. ROBERTSON, Esquire, Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, Ottawa. 1274

�