GENERAL WAR NEWS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 38, 20 January 1916, Page 6

GENERAL WAR NEWS

THE BLOCKADE. JTJnITID PbHSI ABiOOIATXON.I London, January 18. The general expectation is that a tightening of the blockade is imminent.. The Sunday Times says that the Xavy had a particularly trying time in the December gales. They brought x hundreds of ships to port, and it was heart-breaking to receive instructions to release them. The great majority 'were carrying supplies to neutrals, which Lord Lansdowne admits find their way to Germany. ■ The Weekly Dispatch says that the knowledge that the richer Germans are able to secure unlimited supplies of food through neutrals will very shortly produce a more stringent blockade. The Times' correspondent at Washington says the newspapers are excitedly discussing the blockade, and. intimate that the British grip cm German trade is being strengthened. They point out that American lawyers think the procedure legally indefensible, and suggest that the same results would be attainable by declaring a blockade. of German ports and pre-j venting indirect 'neutral trade through extensions of the contraband list and the use of the doctrine of continuous voyage. t MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. Rotterdam, January 18, Travellers from Berlin state that though the public are officially informed that the Kaiser has gone to the front, he really travelled to southern J Germany to undergo an operation, of which the character is being concealed. London, January 18. A Berlin wifeless states that v-on Papen's letters" and bank accounts were seized in violation of diplomatic safe conduct, and that. they are of a purely personal character. The mesI sage denies that von Papen paid

money for attempts against munition plants and bridges.

Though the sales of Exchequer bonds are averaging more than two millions daily, a vast economy campaign is assured. A section of the Cabinet favors a kind of Derby scheme; others want compulsory thrift. Some suggest the control of private expenditure and even regulating rations, the objective being the restriction of the import of tilings that, are not necessities.

The report of the Parliamentary committee, is ready, and includes many drastic proposals to secure monev.