The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-23

| toms, already require that the country of origin shall be given, and the effect has | been that the export trade of Germany was almost immediately killed and there | is no doubt that this has been one of the great causes in the fall of the mark, as it compels Germany to pay in gQld and no. in goods.
 Prize Court-When suspect goods are unloaded from a ship they are at once | put into prize and the owner of the 1 goods has to make claim for their resti- tuition, and must bring action for their l recovery. Such actions are tried ip the | admiralty court, which is presided over l by Sir Samuel Evans; and the goods are l released, condemned, or dealt with as the | court may deem just.
 II have already told you that the de- l sire of the British government is to carry out this blockade with as little delay and inconvenience to neutrals as is possible; and I will now give you some of tho arrangements made to ensure this: "O Guarantees by Importers.
 Agreements have been made with rep- | resentative associations of merchants in | neutral countries under which they un- dertake that goods consigned to them , will not be imported to Germany, nor be 1 used in the manufa cture of goods which are for export to Germany. 'The first of these was the Netherlands | oversea trust, which was so successful
 that similar association were formed in
 other countries:
 "In Denmark, The Danish Merchants
 Guild.
 "In Switzerland, The Societe Surveil- lance Suisse.
 country practically under license only, and such licenses are usually granted if the goods are consigned to these associa- tions.
 CD Agreements with Shipping Lines. Agreements have been made with many shipping lines under which their ships are allowed to go forward even if they have contraband on board or are carrying goods which our authorities sus- pect are for the enemy, on their under taking to return such goods to this coun- 1 ry for the prize court or to retain them in a neutral country until after the war. And in addition to this: "(3) Bunker coal from any port in the British empire is refused to neutral ships unless they comply with certain condi- | tions which ensure that the goods they carry do not go to the enemy. "Both these classes of ships are called 1 White Ships and they are a large and 1 increasing number. and most of the lead- 1 ing lines have made such arrangements. T would strongly advise any of you when shipping goods to see that the ship I is a White Ship
 If a ship is not a White Ship there IS of course presumption that it is or may | be carrying suspected goods, and thus it may be delayed and you suffer the sus- picion attaching to other peoples goods, 70 Skinner Scheme
 '"This is a scheme which was suggested by MT. Skinner, the American consul gen. eral in London.
 "It is this: A department has been opened in the British embassy at Wash 1 ington to which an American exporter can go and give particulars of the nature and amount to the goods he desires to export, and also the name of the con- signee. The department will at once cable | here to the contraband committe who l will cable him whether his goods would l pass the blockade not, and thus he can | decide whether to ship them. If he ships 1 the goods the papers are marked accord | ingly, and some American lines will now only take goods which have passed the l Skinner scheme.
 t'(5) Rationing:
 'It has been found that since the war | broke out certain neutral countries have l been importing vastly increased amount l of certain goods beyond their pre-war and normal requirements, and unless they i. were, formerly exporting large quantities | of these goods from Germany and Aus | tria, there is an overwhelming presump- tio that they were imported for the pur- pose of re-export to Germany; and there l is no doubt that this was done on a large 1 scale.
 ITO avoid this the system of rationing 1 has been adopted under which the import l of given article into neutral country | is limited to the amount of its true do- | nestle requirements, it is a very fair sys- tenn. allowing as it does, any neutral to
 carry on it's own legitimate trade and to | supply it's own wants.
 | You will note thus that 1t may happen
 that when you supply to the war trade 1 department for license to epoxrt cer- | tain articles to neutral countries it may 1 be refused not because there is any 1 doubt in regard to your consignee, but for
 the reason that the country has already | been supplied with the ratoned amount 1 of such goods.
 l q would point out to you that the net result of all these arrangements, ipsti- tuted by the British government so that
 the blockade of Germany will interfere as | little as possible with neutrals. are so
 formed that if any exporter has goods | held up or put in the prize court he has l only himself to blame; and If anyone do- | ing business with these neutral countries ! will only comply with their requirements I | have outlined to you today he runs prac- I tically no risk of his goods being held up, with all the consequent loss of time and money. 'The British government is, of course | determined to enforce the blockade with absolute rigidness and strictness, but at | the same time they are always prepared | to consider any reasonable complaints | from neutrals arising out of such enforce | ment; and I believe that the system | which has now been developed is so we'll thought out and working so smoothly | that there is or can be hardly any cause for complaint
 'It gives interesting cause for thought if one were to consider the positions as reversed. and whether if the German fleet
 was enforcing blockade on England the neutral countries would receive the con
 sideration that the British have shown to thenl-but. of course, it has always been
 the British tradition that, while exercis- ing it's powers, to respect the rights of others
 Scaly Leg Sign of Neglect | Scaly leg is always a sign of neglect and