SEAS IN WAR TIME

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 756, 31 August 1929, Page 9

SEAS IN WAR TIME

AGE-LONG PROBLEMS QUESTION OF CONTRABAND Problems connected with the freedom of the seas down through the ages and the efforts of the nations to construct a basis of understanding covering blockade, contraband and war, formed an interesting address by the Bev. W. G. Monckton at the League of Nations Union luncheon yesterday. The president, Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., presided. The first use of the phrase, “Freedom of the Seas,” occurred about 300 8.C., said Mr. Monckton. The phrase was used by Demosthenes, who complained that Alexander the Great had violated the freedom of the seas. From then onward the aspect had been threefold, there being the interests of the trader nations, of the nations about to enforce p. blockade, and of those which had been blockaded. A great attempt had been made in the Middle Ages to form a law of the sea, and it was contended that as all used the sea it should be free to all. A resolution was agreed to and published in 1494, which was made the basis of all subsequent maritime law. It was laid down that neutral goods in an enemy ship could not be seized, but that enemy goods in a neutral ship were liable to capture. When the question of blockade entered, these two rules were amended to include contraband of war, which at that time, when war was waged by armies and not by whole nations, was easily defined. There were troubles during the times of the Napoleonic Wars, continued the speaker. The elaborate blockading by France and Britain had

a serious effect on trade, particularly that of America. After the French Navy ceased to be a factor, Britain was the chief cause of interference in trade. During the Crimean War, when France and Britain were allies, it was found that French maritime law was different from England's, and it was thought that the time had arrived to make a law of the seas which would reconcile the differing views. As a result, the Declaration, of Paris was signed in 1556, which declared that neutral goods in an enemy ship, except contraband, should not be seized. During the Great War it was recognised that goods sent to Norway. Sweden and Holland might be sent on to Germany, and interference with them proved a great cause of friction. These countries had also been selling to Germany at the beginning of the war, but they were forbidden to receive goods to replace those they had sold at profit to Germany. When wars had been waged between armies it had been easy to define contraband, but when wars were among whole nations, the blockaders declared that anything that ministered to the health, safety or comfort of the enemy nation was contraband. Although America, as the greatest trading nation, had been protesting at the outset of the war at British blockades, they soon found that when they joined the Allies they would be compelled to carry on the blockades. After the war the question was raised, however, by President Wilson, who informed the British Government that unless the freedom of the seas was guaranteed, the United States would build a sufficiently strong navy to enforce her demands for free trade by sea. Many propositions had been put forward to solve the present difficulties, said Mr. Monckton in conclusion. One was that the British should waive the claim to create a blockade in cases of a war between two nations, and that the Americans would waive their claim to the freedom of the seas in a war undertaken in defence of the League of Nations and international opinion. If both nations would make these concessions it was widely believed that the whole question would bo settled.