"FREEDOM OF THE SEAS"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2668, 13 January 1916, Page 6

"FREEDOM OF THE SEAS"

HOW GERMAN PROTESTATIONS WORK OUT IN PRACTICE. The Foreign Office recently issued for publication, the following extract from a letter addressed to the Admiralty by a well-known firm of solicitors:— "We were to-day in conversation with the master of a Swedish steamship. Amongst the papers which he laid before us for our professional advice was a clearance paper printed in German and' Swedish, signed by the Customs at Lulea, in tlie north, of Sweden, certifying that the ship was carrying no contraband. We expressed surprise on seeing this official Swedish paper printed in German as well as Swedish, and were told by the captain that in all cases prior to sailing the Swedish Custom Houses telegraphed to Berlin, informing them' of the sailing of the vessel, and that she was not carrying contraband. Furthermore, the captain explained to us that all Swedish vessels leaving tlio Baltic were stopped at the South entrance of the Sound 1 by German patrol-boats, who examined the vessels .very carefully. He stated that on his last voyage he was signalled by the patrol-boat to stop, and ho patiently waited four hours until the patrol-boat could find time to attend to him." The above appears to His Majesty's Government to merit being brought to the notice of the public as showing how the German Government, in tliose waters where they have any opportunity of displaying naval activity, nrnctise the principle, of the freedom of the seas for neutral commerce which they have so loudly accused His Majesty's Government,of violating.