MARITIME WARFARE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 464, 24 March 1909, Page 7

MARITIME WARFARE.

THE PRIZE COURT. RULES FOR ITS GUIDANCE. GREAT BRITAIN'S LOSSES AND GAINS. (bytelegraph— γ-kess association—copvrioiit.) London, March 22. "Tho Times," in a further reference to tho Naval Conference Bluo Books, says: "If Great Britain agrees to tho establishment of an International Prizo Court, it will bo on conditions which do not pledge us beforehand to recogniso at tho bidding of an international tribunal an iniquitous pretension. On tho other hand, thcro has been roasonablo give-and-take on other points. Tho destruction of neutral prizes is restricted to an imperious military necessity, which must bo proved to tho satisfaction of tho Court." "Tho Times" writes that the greatest success of the conferenco is tho agreement on the threo lists—tho first, which defines absolute contraband of war , ; tho second, defining conditional contraband; and tho third, defining goods not contraband. The lastnamed list includes practically all raw materials of British industry, such as cotton. [In its earlier comment "The Times" said that on the whole a not unsatisfactory agreement has beon arrived at, but no agreement has boon reached regarding ti merchantman's right—which Britain denies—tc convert itself into a warship upon tho high seas, nor whether the nationality or—as Britain contends—the domicile of the owner of a ship determines the character of his goods, whether those of a neutral or of an enemy.]