AFTER-WAR TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16850, 15 May 1918, Page 6

AFTER-WAR TRADE.

There are still people who hold firmly to the belief that when peace comes trade with Germany will resume its normal pre-war coarse. Such confidence is likely to be rudely shaken by Mr. Bonar Law's announcement that Britain intends to j denounce all commercial conventions. France has already taken this step, which is in strict conformity with the resolutions of the Paris Economic Conference. Those who speak against "boycotting" Germany, and of our dependence upon German trade, ignore our paramount duty to ourselves and to our allies, as they are wilfully blind to the fact that we have done without German trade for nearly four years. Whatever we may feel regarding trade with Germany the subject in its most important aspect does not present itself, and is not likely to present itself for some years after the war, in the form of a "boycott." As it was put at the Paris Conference, it is first and foremost a matter of self-preservation. Raw material will be in short supply, and it would be suicidal for Britain and her allies to sell such of it as they command to Germany. Belgian industry has been wrecked, many French and Italian enterprises have been rained, even in Britain, which has been free from German invasion, trade has been lost and plants will need thorough renewal before industrial output can be brought back to the pre-war standard. If the war closed on terms which allowed Germany to buy in allied markets material urgently needed for the reestablishment of Belgian, French, British, and Italian industry it would be an unmistakable German victory. Germany is fighting and scheming for such a Deace, and it is well that Britain has followed the French example and made it clear to the enemy that no such terms can be conceded.