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Show REPORT DUTCH SHIPS SEIZED f BRITISH Government Said to Have Confiscated Vessels in United Kingdom Ports. i k WASHINGTON, March 2S. Dutch steamships in British ports were reported report-ed here today to have been confiscated bv the British government. The information infor-mation reached here from a grain house which sold the Dutch government the grain aboard many of the vessels. It could not be confirmed at The Netherlands Nether-lands legation. About forty Dutch ships now are in ports belonging to Great Britain, and a fleet of fifteen grain-carrying vessels is undestood to be on its way from a Holland port to the United States. Many of the Dutch ships now in British ports have been detained for from 6ix to eight weeks. The. British government for some time has been insisting that a certain percentage per-centage of Dutch merchant tonnage carry car-ry cargoes to British destinations, and the Dutch government has refused. NEW YORK, March 28. Representatives Representa-tives here of the Holland steamship lines were informed yesterday through official sources that the entente allies were negotiating with the Dutch government gov-ernment to take over all freight ships now detained in ports controlled by Great Britain. Inquiry made by the lines at the state department and The Netherlands legation at Washington and by cable to Holland has so far brought no reply. Advices were received today by the Royal Dutch lino that one of its' vessels, ves-sels, laden with government grain, had been released from a port of call and had sailed for home. It also was learned today from the representative of a Swedish steamship line that more than 200,001 tons of Swedish ships are being held in ports controlled by England and her allies. Among these ships is a passenger liner which left New York more than one month ago with forty persons on board. Some of the passengers abandoned the voyaco at a port of call and returned home. |