THE H.B. TRIBUNE. SATURDAY, SEPT. 26, 1914. ISOLATED GERMANY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 242, 26 September 1914, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. SATURDAY, SEPT. 26, 1914. ISOLATED GERMANY.

Two of the cables that hate come through, during the last dav or two emphasise the isolation that the Allies have been able to impose on Germany. The first has reference to the resentment felt at the cutting of the cables, which, has pracficallvdeprived Germany of communication by wire with the outside world. According to an .American exchange, twenty four hours were not allowed to elapse after Britain’s declaration of war before the cable that connected Germany with, the United States was put out of acrion. The same authority tells us that at the time of writing. Germain' was virtually de pendent on her wireless service and on the goodwill ot neighbouring neutral nations for the transmission of any electric messages outside her own boundaries. From the United States she is practically cut. off. as the cables are under British control. No wonder the German Kaiser feels sore that lie can only send his grandiloquent messages directly across the Atlantic at the option of his most hatred eriemr. By another message we aie told that Great Britain has prohibited the importation of sugar from Germany through Holland. From this if would seem that there are still some British, traders whose greed is so strong, and whose patriotic sense is so feeble, that they have to' be subjected to legal penalty in order to prevent them from carrying on an indirect traffic with the enemv. The blow that has been dealt at Germany's trade, and her utter commercial helplessness under the British blockade in Hie North Sea. inav be judged from the tact, that she has no outlet for such products as she has to sell excepting through Holland or Denmark. It cannot, of course, be e.xnectetl oi either of these neutral nations that .advantage should not be taken of the position which enables them to act as well-paid middle men. Britain was Germany's best outside customer for the beet sugar of which she produces an immense quantity. and a rigid enforcement ol’ the prohibition of its import into Britain through Holland will, in effect, throw her whole surplus stocks upon her own hands, and so add another factor to her internal commercial and indus trial troubles. Judging from the general tenor of our cable news it seems safe to assume that Britain has declared the German North Sea ports to be in a state of blockade by British ships. If this assumption is correct, then no foodstuffs or raw materials will be allowed to get into these ports even under the protection of a neutral flag, and should any vessel at tempt to run the blockade, then she does so at her own peril. The general principle on which hostilities are carried on between nations is that thev shall be allowed to interfere as little as possible with the trade of neutrals. Broadly speaking, there is nothing to preclude neutrals, such as Denmark. Holland and the United States, from trading freely with Germany, and, as we know, the two first-named are reaping a rich harvest of high prices in supplying her with foodstuffs of one kind and another. But this general principle is considerably’ modified in its effect by the application of another wir.ch secures to"a belligerent the privilege of carrying on his warlike operations unobstructed by any tiring but a regard for neutral territory. AV hen these two principles come into conflict, the first-named has to give w-ty, so as to admit of the belligerent carrying on his hostilities as may best serve his purpoe. therefore, neutral Powers are notified that a blockade of specified ports of a belligerent is being carried on by the opposing naval force, then the neutrals are, according to accepted international law. obliged to desist from trading with those ports, under the penalty'’that any shipping disregarding the blockade is liable to confiscation or desti action. There are several set rules that goyern the question of blockade. . and probably the most important of these is that it must be effective and continuous, that is, that it must be uninterrupt edly maintained by a force sufficient to prevent access to the blockaded ports. The blockade must also be applied impartially _ to ships of all nations. The question as to whether a blockade is effective is one o< fact, but there can scarcely he any doubt as to the effectiveness of the blockade that the British Fleet has main tained against the German North !><>a ports, and by their own promiscuous mining operations in the Baltic and the entrances to it the Germans have themselves driven neutral shipping from those waters. So far as sea communication is concerned Germanv is. in fact, isolated from all the world, excepting the few small neutral nations that have a Baltic seaboard, anti even they must carry on trade with some degree of trepidation.