The only observation in the British communication made to the Norwegian "Government in Oslo on May 23, 1939, dealing with the right of passage, was: "While the British Government docs mot deny that it may, in special circumstances, be right to refuse belligerent worships entry into neutral ter-Titorial waters, it has always maintained and must continue to maintain the existence of such right of entry for the purpose of innocent passage and it is unaware of any case wherein this has been refused by neutrals to belligerents for this purpose,"
The Norwegian Minister has now conveyed to Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, a message from Professor Koht wherein the latter spontaneously Reknowledges that his statement of february 20 was made from memory and that he had been mistaken in baying that the British Government had made any reference to the 24- Fours limit, The extract quoted, the communique concluded, represents the only statement made to the Norwegian Government on this point prior to the present incident—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.