Page 99
Page 99
SECRET.
Report.
AT the outset of this enquiry the attention of the Sub-Committee was drawn to the report of previous enquiries on the subject of the protection of commerce in war, and particularly to the portions of these reports bearing on the question of National Insurance or Indemnity. The subject occupies a very considerable portion of the Report of the Royal Commission on the Supply of Foot and Raw Material in War, and has been discussed from time to time by the Committee of Imperial Defence. The most recent and the most exhaustive examination of the subject, however, is to be found in the Report of Mr. Austen Chamberlain's Treasury Committee, published as a Parliamentary Paper in 1908 [Cd. 4161].
2. Having regard to the exhaustive character of Mr. Austen Chamberlain's enquiry and to the comparatively recent date of the Report, the Sub-Committee thought it unnecessary to go over the ground covered by that Report anew.
The procedure they adopted was to ascertain whether any new conditions have arisen which invalidate the reasons given by the Treasury Committee for rejecting any system of National Guarantee.
The Treasury Committec's Reasons for rejecting any System of National Guarantee.
3. The reasons given in the Report of Mr. Austen Chamberlain's Committee for rejecting any system of National Guarantee are summed up in paragraphs 217 and 224 as follows:-
*
"217. At this point, therefore, we reach the conclusion that the dangers to be apprehended from our present situation, and the advantages which could under any circumstances be secured by a National Guarantee, are neither of them so great as the advocates of such proposals have generally supposed. We admit, however, that these dangers do exist to some extent, and that a suitable scheme of National Guarantee, if such could be devised, would diminish, though it could not absolutely remove them.”
*
*
*
*
"224. If the dangers by which our commerce and industry are threatened were as great as they appear to the advocates of such schemes, or if the remedy provided by a National Guarantee in any form were complete, it might, perhaps, be worth while to face the enormous administrative difficulties involved in the adoption of a scheme, to accept the risk or even the certainty of having to pay some fraudulent claims, and take the financial leap in the dark involved in accepting an unknown, but in any case considerable, financial liability. But this course could only be justified if the case against inaction were overwhelming and the remedy certain and complete. In our opinion neither of these conditions holds good, and we are, therefore, unable to recommend the adoption of any form of National Guarantee against the war risks of shipping and maritime trade, except that which is provided by the maintenance of a powerful Navy.”
*
4. These reasons may be summed up as follows:-
First, that in the opinion of the Treasury Committee, so long as the Navy was maintained at proper strength, the danger to which our commerce was exposed was not so great as the advocates of National Guarantee asserted; and
Secondly, that no form of National Guarantee was brought to the notice of the Committee which would provide a satisfactory remedy for the alleged danger.
[1293]
B
Page 99
Page 99
Page 99