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SECRET

GRANT OF CLEARANCE IN TIME OF WAR TO NEUTRAL VESSELS ENTERING A BRITISH PORT WITH ARMS, &c., ON BOARD INTENDED FOR A FOREIGN DESTINATION.

(Secret.)

I.

Foreign Office to Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence.

THE Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence, and, in returning the Minutes of the 119th Meeting of the Committee, transmits to him herewith, by direction of Secretary Sir E. Grey, a memorandum which has been prepared in the Foreign Office respecting the grant of clearance to neutral vessels with arms, &c., on board intended for a foreign destination.

Captain Hankey will observe that the effect of the decision taken at that meeting will be to differentiate between British and neutral foreign traders in a manner greatly to the prejudice of the latter, and Sir A. Nicolson is to request that this consideration may be laid before the Committee, with the suggestion that the decision should be amended so as to be limited to contraband of war alone.

Foreign Office,

January 22, 1913.

II.

(Secret.)

Memorandum by the Foreign Office.

A DECISION was taken at the 119th Meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence, on the 1st August, 1912, which appears to require reconsideration.

2. No. 4 of the subjects dealt with at that meeting was the grant of clearances in time of war to neutral vessels entering a British port with arms, &c., on board intended for a foreign destination, and the conclusion arrived at is stated as follows:-

The customs officer should take notice of any cargo which is not to be landed in the United Kingdom on board a neutral ship in port on the outbreak of war, or which comes into a port after the outbreak of war, without regard to the time for which she remains in port. He should also require contraband of war, or any goods prohibited by proclamation to be exported, which may be found on board such a neutral ship, to be unloaded."

3. Schedules 5 and 6 of the "Trading with the Enemy" Report (C.I.D. Paper 160-B) contain the lists of goods of which the export is prohibited, or restricted, "by proclamations issued at the outbreak of war.

4. Under Section 8 of "The Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1879," power is given to prohibit the export of arms and various classes of goods. A proclamation under this section prohibits the export of the goods from this country altogether, and

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