CO129-552-6 Traffic of arms to China 2-1-1935 - 27-12-1935 — Page 71

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The War Period.

77. Export Prohibition.

Until the outbreak of the

European War, although the necessary power existed, the re

was apparently no actual prohibition of the exportation of

arms from this country.

8. In 1914, immediately on the outbreak of war, a

Proclamation was issued under Section 8 of the Customs and

Inland Revenue Act, 1879, prohibiting the exportation of

certain articles, including arns and amunition, to all

destinations.

i.e.,

The Proclamation was absolute in its terms,

it made no mention of exports under licence, but a

rough and ready export licensing system was devised

almost immediately. At the outset applications for licences

were submitted to the Customs, who forwarded them to the

various Departments interested in the goods. In cases

of doubt applications were submitted to the Committee on

Trade with the Ene my a body which had been established

at the beginning of the war to deal with questions relating

to the law on trading with the enemy. As the list of

prohibited articles continued to expand it was found

impossible for the Committee to deal with the great amount

of work involved, and the War Trade Department was accordingly

created by Treasury Minute, dated the 17th February, 1915,

in order to control inter alia the issue of export licences.

In addition the War Trade Department dealt with questions

relating to the Black Lists, to embargoes, to agreements

with trading bodies in neutral countries and to trading

relations with Allies.

9. The prohibition of the exportation of war material

continued without interruption until the end of the war,

by which time almost everything which was capable of teng

of use to the enemy was on the prohibited list. With the