THE BLOCKADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2673, 20 January 1916, Page 5

THE BLOCKADE

GRIP TO BE TIGHTENED HAS BRUM BEEN HOODWINKED? WHAT STATISTICS- REVEAL ■By Telegraph—Press Association—Coujricht London, January 18. The general expectation is that a tightening of the blockade is imminent. The "Sunday Times" says that the Navy had a particularly trying time in December owing to gales. The warships brought in hundreds of ships to port, and it was heartbreaking to receive instructions to release them, as the great majority of the vessels were carrying supplies to neutrals, -which Lord Lansdowne admits find their way to Germany. The "Weeldy Dispatch" eays the knowledge that the richer Germans are able to secure unlimited supplies of food through neutrals will shortly produce a more stringent blockade. COMMENT IN AMERICA. ' London, January 18. "The Times" corraspondent at Washington reports that the newspapers are excitedly discussing the blockade, and intimate that the British grip on Gerrnaai trade is being' strengthened. They point out that American lawyers think that the procedme is legally indefensible, and suggest that the samo results are attainable by declaring a blockade of accessible German coasts, and preventing indirect neutral trade through extensions of the contraband list, using the doctrine of the continuous voyage New York, January 18. The New York "Evening Post" , says . that Mr. Page has informed President Wilson that more stringent rules are about to be applied in the blockade oi Germany. STRffiiG~FIGIJRES HUGE JUMP IN NEUTRALS' IMPORTS s London, January 18. The "Morning Post's" Washington correspondent writes: The latest statistics prove how the blockade of Germany has been nullified by the failure of tlfe Office to grasp the situation. American exports of wheat sent to Germany during the first ten months of 1915 amounted, to 15,000 bushels, as compared with 12,000,000 bushels in the corresponding period of 1913. The export to the Netherlands and Scandinavia rose from 19,000,000 in 1913 to 50,000,000 in 1915. Germany in 1913 took 6,000,000 bushels of maize direct, as compared with 15,000 bushels in 1915. Neutrals' importations increased from 14,750,000 to' 28,950,000. There were similarly marked increasc-a in bacon and other commodities. Germany's cotton imports were 17,000 bales in 1913, as against 174,000 bales in 1915. The neutrals' imports rose from 53,000 to 1,100,000 in 1915.*

SWEDEN'S NEUTRALITY HINT FROM KING GUSTAV Stockholm, January 18. King Gnstav, in opening the Riksdag, urged the augmentation of defence to maintain neutrality. The Government had more than once been obliged to intervene against attempts to put Swedish trade under tho usurped control of another Power.