The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1915. THE COTTON QUESTION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 44, 22 June 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1915. THE COTTON QUESTION.

A writer in the Auckland Star says:— It is surely time that the Imperial authorities took some definite step to prevent cotton reaching Germany. According to a recent cable message, the agitation in favour of declaring cotton contraband has been revived at Home, and pressure is being brought to hear upon the Government to insist on more stringent precautions in regard to the passage of cotton consignments through neutral countries to the enemy’s territory. In the early stages of the war this question was hotly debated, but after a time it seems to Jiave been generally agreed that Germany had already accumulated all the cotton she needed, and that it was not worth England’s while to embroil herself with the neutrals by contesting the point now. This view is manifestly, a confession of weakness, and as the war drags on the arguments in favour of shutting out cotton from Germany altogether are being reiterated with greater force. None pi the military experts lias expressed a more emphatic opinion on the subject than Mr Hilaire Belloc, and though his way of putting the case is studiously moderate in form, there seems to be no escape from the inferences and conclusions founded upon his facts. When we consider that cotton is absolutely indispensable as a base for the manufacture of modern high explosives, the action of the British Government in refusing to declare all raw cotton absolute contraband, and to exert its whole strength to prevent the importation of cotton into Germany, seems almost inexplicable.