IN BRITAIN.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 586, 27 December 1915, Page 8

IN BRITAIN.

THE FOREIGN OFFICE.

REPLY TO CRITICISMS.

LONDON, December 23

In the .House of Commons, Lord Robert Cecil, replying to criticisms of Foreign Office diplomacy, said the suggestion made by a Greek statesman that the Foreign Office had rejected an alliance with, and the assistance of, Greece, was absolutely without foundation. Of what may have happened before he joined the Cabinet, Lord Cecil said he would not speak, but the whole keynote of Sir Edward Grey's policy for years had been to produce unity among the Balkan States instead of discord.

Complaints had been made of the secrecy of the Foreign Office, but if those who made the complaints were inside the Foreign Office for a week, they would see that so long as Britain had to co-operate with foreign Powers, its work could not be done in the light of day. Its secrecy was easily denounced and derided, but some measure of secrecy was absolutely essential. Referring to the blockade of Germany, Lord Robert Cecil said no linseed had been exported from Britain for months. It might be true that other oil-bearing substances had been exported in undue quantities. That was a vital matter with which he had to deal. It was not Britain's policy to go to war with neutral countries in order to effectively blockade Germany. We could only stop goods on the sea which we knew were going to Germany. Those who suggested that someone in the Foreign Office was under German inlluence were mere hysterical neurotics, who, when things were not going right for the moment, turned on those who were trying to serve their country, saying: "You are traitors. We are being betrayed. You are friends of the enemy. That is why we are not succeeding."

Lord Robert Cecil added: "This disgraceful state of things ought to be stamped upon. A few months ago Sir Edward Grey: was regarded as the representative of all that is best in our public life, and now some people are trying to blame him for our misfortunes."

AFTER THE WAR.

BRITISH TRADE RELATIONS.

LONDON, December 23

In the House of Commons, Mr W. Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, replying to questions regarding British trade relations after the war, said that any investigations which were being conducted were not being made with the idea of hastening the return of peace. There would be 110 peace until the main object for which we were fighting had been attained.

In nearly every department of commercial life, however, men had been constantly thinking about what was likely to happen when the war was over, and how best to prepare for such contingencies. It was certain that the relationship of Germany and Austria —what might be called the Central Powers' Zollverein—was bound to conflict with our interests. There were also questions regarding the use of British ports made by German tonnage, and alien ownership of real property in Britain, notably coalfields. They were, said Mr Runciman, taking good care that no German would stand in their way. The Board of Trade was closely watching British interests* to which everything else was being sacrificed. One of the most remarkable romances of industry had been*the skill with which the Germans had gathered together control of the oilfields of Europe and the East. The question was, how far this raw material, seeing its value as a motive power for transport purposes, would pass from German to British control.

Mr Runciman added: "I think that so far as commerce is concerned, Germany is a beaten nation. It is our business to see she docs not again lift up her head after the war."