ECONOMIC WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21210, 5 September 1940, Page 7

ECONOMIC WAR

SUCCESS OF BLOCKADE CHANGING CONDITIONS RESULT OF FIRST YEAR (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 5, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 4 The first year of economic war against Germany has been one of considerable developement in the early technique and many adaptations to the changing conditions brought about by the German seizure of neutral territory in Europe and by the defection of the Petain Government. In the first phase of all the machinery of the Contraband Control was devised and later of the Enemy Export Control. Naval patrols diverted shipping to bases where they were examined and detained or released by order of the Contraband and Enemy Exports Committees in London. At the same time the Ministry of Economic Warfare was concerned to make the control as little inconvenient as possible to neutral traders and shipping companies. The second phase was the negotiation of war trade agreements with the Governments of neutral States. Agreements were concluded with most countries adjacent to Germany and many others. Meanwhile in the Balkans preemptive purchases were being made ot goods which would otherwise have gone to Germany, and in the Americas the navicert system was introduced. Total Blockade Since the German invasions in April, May and June the scope and methods of the economic campaign have been fundamentally changed. Germany has added to her stocks, but the countries which she invaded depend, as she herself depends, very largely on imports from overseas. There is now a total blockade of German-controlled territory a blockade which can be operated and is bound to be very effective, but the machinery of the agreements is out of date and the old-style contraband control is impracticable. The blockade has been transferred “from seas to quays,” and the navicert system has been made compulsory and extended to cover the complete cargoes and the ships that carry them. The total number of applications since the system was instituted is 63,525. In August, after it was made compulsory, there were nearly three times as many applications as in July. During the first year of the war the Contraband Committee held 348 meetings and the Enemy Export Committee 210. The Contraband Committee considered the cases of 2979 ships and ordered the seizure of 763,344 tons of cargo suspected of enemy destination. Cargoes Seized The main items of cargo seized in the war area are as follows:—Metals and manufactures, 236,785 tons; petroleum and allied products, 182,820 tons; food products and beverages, 83,593 tons; oil seeds, 74,499 tons; feeding stuffs, 39,714 tons; textiles, 37,007 tons; nonmetallic minerals, 34,348 tons. Goods actually seized represent, of course, only a very small fraction of what Germany has lost owing to the British contraband control. Greater Germany’s imports in 1938, of which far the greater part were carried by sea and which therefore could not now reach her, included 5,940,200 tons of petroleum products; 340,000 tons of copper; 330,876 tons of cotton; 139,432 tons of wool; 100,490 tons of rubber; and very important quantities of chrome, molybdenite, nickel, wolfram and ores. a Impossible To Replace While the authorities here never sought to exaggerate the role of the economic weapon figures such as these show how impossible it is for Germany to replace a greater part ot her former seaborne trade. Her supplies of oil, materials used for hardening steel, rubber and copper are notably short, and she cannot live for ever on stocks which she had accumulated or plundered from occupied territories. These countries are, in the main, liabilities to Germany once their stocks of her deficiency materials have been exhausted. They can themselves supply one of Germany’s chief deficiencies and will have, to be maintained at Germany’s expense, at however low a level. Total Blockade Operating Those in the best position to judge do not question that the total blockade is operating well. It is 4 not in doubt that Germany and Italy are extremely vulnerable in the long run to its effects. At the same time the Royal Air Force, who have at their disposal all the information available through the intelligence services of the Ministry of Economic Warfare, are raining blows on the vital stores and industrial plants of Italy and Germany. This is economic warfare in ifs most direct form and at the hands of the Royal Air Force it has been immensely effective.