Norwich bulletin., 1918-11-26

i06 men; S36th Squadron, four officers, 109 men; S52nd Squadron four off cers, 125 men; Third Construction. Company, Air Service, four officers, 235 men; casuals, medical department. four officers, twelve men, Total, fifty officers. 1,874 mens
 Before General March's announce
 ment, Secretary Baker had discussed with newspaper correspondents the return of American troops from
 France. Their homeward movement.
 he said. is dependent almost entirely upon the limitation of transportation | facilities, both at sea and in France, Besides employing in this work the 1 German liners seized in this country
 Dutch vessels taken over and all oth- CT available transports, MT. Baker
 said some part of the British trans port tonnage employed in carrying troops to France will continue to be
 used in getting the men home. He pointed out. however. that Great Brit ain will need many of her ships to
 carry home Canadian, Australian, New
 Zealand and other colonial forces
 which have been in France longer than the American armies.
 The secretary said the great Brit
 ish liners Mauretania, Olympic and Aquitania have been in the American
 transport service for a year and that
 the Mauretania still is so engaged.
 He could net say whether the other
 two had been withdrawn.
 German liners now in German ports, MT. Baker said, may offer a. means
 of expediting the return of the Amer
 ican forces. Present plans are to use
 these vessels to carry food to Ger
 many and the secretary said it might ] 1 be found possible to make some ar , engagement under which some of Gen
 eral Pershing's men could be sent
 ihcme on them Before sailing for Eu- , rope to arrange for the return Of the 7 troops, Chairman Hurley of the ship
 ping board said it was the purpose to D use ships now idle in German ports. ; Mir Baker did not indicate today that any definite steps to that end have U yet been taken.
 > With the removal of the submarine . menace, the war secretary said. it will , !. be possible to bring home many sol- E Idiers in cargo vessels. The shipping U board is commissioning many such q vessels from day to day and they will , be added to the fleet available for the < return of the army.
 ' For the next several weeks MT. Ba- i' ker expects returning transports to be H. laden entirely with sick and founded H. men and those not immediately avail ' able for military service, such as the
 
 n hospitals in France. but who have not |, fully recovered their strength. They ,S will be organized for purposes oi s. transportation into provisional com "a panies of from 100 to 150 men with the k, requisite number Of officers and yif n be sent to designated cahIps to be !; mustered out. It is assumed that eff r. forts will be made in France to put l. into each provisional company mer re from the same general locality in tht $, United States in order to ease the de
 mobilization transportation problem ed on this side J. Secretary Baker also revealed today n, that a general principle to govern tht p, payment to be made to Great Britain l. for services rendered by her transporT l. fleet or cargo craft in transporting ol tn supplying American forces had beer q; reached. He said that in conferene' I; with Lord Reading. the British am n; hassador. it had been agreed that pay A ment to be made by either govern fl ment to the other for such servic' $, would be made on the basis that nt $, profit was to accrue to either Grea -s, Britain or the United States