THE COST ON BLOCKADE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2515, 17 July 1915, Page 7

THE COST ON BLOCKADE

—— .WHATdT MEANS TO GERMANY, A correspondent writing to one of the London, newspapers points out that the cloth required tor the envelopes of airships and for the wings pf aeroplanes is only made in Lancashire, and that since the beginning of the war there is reason to bflieve that large quantities of this material have found tlieir way to Germany under the head of cotton. As a matter of fact, it is cotton of a very special kind —"Sea Island" cotton, which is sold at 3s. a lb. The yam is very fine and strong, and is only made at vory fow mills in Lancashire. When the war started the British Government was .apparently unawa.ro that Germany received these supplies from England, and no special means were adopted to intercept exports. The attention of the Admiralty was directed to this very important factor by Sir Charles. Macara, Bart f , president of the International Federation of Cotton Spinners, and several consignments havo since been stopped. . It is by no means certain that aircraft cloth is not still entering Germany as cotton eoods. If Germany wero deprived of tnis material, which, as we have already stated, comes only from Lancashire, she would be quite unablo to replace, her los6es ill aircraft. Germany has been free to import cotton from neutral countries since the declaration of war, as cotton was not placed on the contraband list, until the blockade. Tho blockado will be inconvenient for tho enemy,, unless Germany- and Austria have laid in a large stook of cotton. _ i , Cotton outers into the production of explosives on a larger scale than is generally assumed. The consumption of cotton for explosives by the nations now at war is at the rate of 4,000,000 bales per annum. Every time a big shell is exploded it blows away 4001b., or a bale, of cotton. Every shot, for instance, fired by the Queen Elizabeth at the Dardanelles contained that i anjount of cotton.