THE GRIP OF THE BLOCKADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23482, 20 October 1939, Page 8

THE GRIP OF THE BLOCKADE

Week by week, through the exercise of contraband control, the grip of the British blockade on Germany is tightening. In a month and a-half of war, Great Britain has intercepted and detained 338,000 tons of supplies intended for ultimate delivery to the factories and markets of the Reich. This figure, of course, is exclusive of seizures by the French Navy and, as nothing has yet occurred to weaken the maritime supremacy of the Allied democracies, it is a reasonable assumption that, as weeks grow into months, the effect of the blockade will be intensified. Last week's seizures by Britain alone are indicative of the relentless pressui-e that is being brought to bear on Germany on the economic front. Available world supplies of phosphates, copra, rubber and .vegetable oils are largely controlled by Britain and France and countries that are prepared to trade with Germany have only small exportable surpluses. And yet substantial shipments under all these headings have been intercepted. Nor is the production of substitutes in German factories likely to relieve the position.. In 1938, for instance, Germany produced between 20,000 and 40,000 tons of synthetic rubber, but at the same time she still required to import 180,000 tons, most of it from British Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Ceylon or Siam. During the last few months it is quite conceivable that her synthetic production has increased, but, under war conditions, so has her consumption. Every ton of rubber diverted from Germany to-day is probably accentuating an emergency demand. So it is with other classes of goods which Germany must obtain from overseas and, when the precarious position of German external credit is also taken into consideration, it can be seen that the blockade must prove an offensive weapon of the first magnitude.