GERMAN EXPORTS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2662, 6 January 1916, Page 5

GERMAN EXPORTS

FOREIGN OFFICE STATEMENT ' By TelcftrflDh—Press Association—Copyright j (Rec. January 5, 9 p.m.) i London, January 5. The Foreign Office, in a memorandum ■; on the measures adopted -to intercept • German's seaborne commerce, ' points - ! out that . the latest returns for Sep- j tember show that over 92 per cent, of German exports to America had been ; strpped, also it is noteworthy ■ that those exports havo not merely been di- 'i verted to neutrals adjacent to Germany, ; as the neutrals' imports from Germany do not exceed the pre-war normal , i amount. ■ , The memorandum emphasises the dif- ■■ ;-j ficulty of checking German imports i through neutral ports because the con« 1 ditions of modern commerce offer infi- . nite opportunities for concealing the real nature of such transactions. Bri* • tain lias honestly attemped to die-. ■ tinguisli between bona fide neutral trade and trade which, although it appeared equally innocent, was carried on wit I the enemy on nearly every ship bound foi Scandinavian and Dutch ports brought into a British port for examination, We have made agreements with Swe< den, Denmark, Norway, and Switzer- - laud, with stringent conditions guaranteeing that products shall not reach the j enemy, and r.isults havo been obtained j without serious friction. j