MEMORANDUM                         
                                                            
                                                            
 
                                                            
 
 
                                                            
In the exchange of notes 
      dated September 2, 1940 with the British Government, providing 
      for the base -destroyers exchange, the following provision was 
      made in respect to payment by the Government of the United States 
        for private property included in the leased areas:  
                                                            
 
                                                            
 
 
                                                            
"All of the bases 
      and facilities referred to in the preceding paragraphs will be 
      leased to the United States for a period of ninety-nine years 
      free from all rent and charges other than such compensation to 
      be mutually agreed on to be paid by the United States in order 
      to compensate the owners of private property for loss by expropriation 
      or damage arising out of the establishment of the bases and facilities 
                          in question."                     
                                                            
 
                                                            
 
 
                                                            
To implement this provision, 
      it was agreed that the local authorities would acquire the necessary 
      privately owned lands to be leased to the Government of the United 
      States for ninety-nine years and that this Government would, 
      after having the properties examined by its own appraisers, reimburse 
      the British Government if our valuations were in accord with 
      the amounts paid out by the local authorities; the British Government 
      in turn would reimburse the local Governments in the eight areas 
                            involved.                       
                                                            
 
                                                            
 
 
                                                            
The privately owned lands 
      acquired in connection with the construction of these eight Bases 
      have now been appraised. The total value of the United States 
      appraisals is approximately $5,500,000 United States currency. 
      As regards a considerable number of individual tracts of land, 
      our appraisals accord with the prices paid by the local authorities 
      for the properties. In practically everyone of the eight areas, 
      however, there are differences in the total value of such private 
      property between prices paid by local authoritie %s and the amounts 
      set by the United States appraisers as a fair market price. In 
      Bermuda, for instance, the total of our United States naval appraisals 
      was 109,000 while the awards of the Bermuda Property Board for 
      the same properties reached a total of 184,000. This is the most 
      serious discrepancy. Elsewhere the discrepancies range from five 
                        to fifty per cent.