The Timaru Herald MONDAY, MAY 10, 1909. LAWS OF NAVAL WAR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13899, 10 May 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, MAY 10, 1909. LAWS OF NAVAL WAR.

Homo papers to hand contain lengthy abstracts of the report of the International Naval Conference, references whereto had been made in our cable messages early in the new year. The Conference was called by the British - Government with the object of .laying down the principles of international law in accordance with the Convention signed at The Hague on October 18th, .1907; and the Powers represented at; the.-Conference were Great Britain, Germany, the United . States, Austria, Spain, France, Italy, Japan,. The Netherlands, and Russia. The delegates showed a true conciliatory disposition, and agreement was unanimously reached on all the important points. . It will be remembered that in respect to the Russo-Japanese war, the question as to blockade was very important, for certain of the Powers held that "no vessel can be seized for breach of blockade until after a special notification of the existence of the blockade" lias been made to such vessel. This view was abandoned by the Conference as no longer in haranony with the conditions of modern warfare; and the . rules adopted correspond to the ■ practice as upheld by the decisions of the Britis.. Pm'e Court. These rules .'.are': embodied in twenty-one articles, which so far have been subscribed to by< Germany, the • United States, ' Austria, France, Great Britain, and The Netherlands. ."'What is contraband," a. question wb ich hn s so frequently given rise to serious international Complications, proved one of the most difficult that'.the* Conference had to deal with. Lists "were drawn iip relating, to " absolute " and " conditional " contraband, and for the first time within the history of the; Powers, agreement has' been arrived at which will place, it beyond the power of belligerents to . treat as contraband the raw materials: of the most important of British- industries. To put it briefly, in no case may anything be declared contraband that can-' not be used for warlike purposes. The right to confiscate . articles, of . eitherabsolute or conditional contraband ' is now conditional. If the master of a, vessel is aware of their character, the articles can be seized; if lie is not,, sp• informed, and the articles are seized, the Power, seizing, them is to pay full compensation. Shipowners arid ship--pers are to be made fully aware-of. the law, and as they will of course" Be supplied with the lists relating to contraband, the large measure of certainty which has been established, should prove of materia! benefit to all neutral trade and shipping. •To obtain thesp advantages, a concession had to be made to those Powers who refused to recognise the doctrine of '' continuous! voyage," the compromise arrived at being that " the doctrine, of continuous voyage, shall be maintained as regards absolute, but given up as regards conditional contraband." Another point of British practice was also adopted, that relating to the ship and her cargo, the Conference fixing the proportion of contraband at one half of the total cargo; where it is less than this proportion, a ship may be condemned in the amount of costs and expenses incurred by the captors. As regards "unneutral service," it was agreed that the interest of Powers which possess a numerous fleet of ocean, liners, would best be consulted by laying it dowi " that any persons found on board that are actually embodied in the arme;l forces of the enemy may be made prisoners of war, and removed from th° ship." "Destruction of neutral prizes," was a question surrounded by complications, as a. ship is so closely related to the cargo it carries. In the compromise. arrived at there are two safeguards; firstly, a vessel may not be destroyed if it is not condemned by a prize court; and, secondly, destruction may only be resorted to in cases where to take the prize into port would endanger the safety of the captor's ship or the success of the operations in which it is at the timo engaged. 'Other lliatters relating to "neutrals" were those affecting transfers, the general principle arrived at in the rules being that bona fide transfers are valid, whether effected before or after the outbreak of hostilities; also that the "enemy" or "neutral" character of si, ship should be absolutely determined by the flag ib is entitled to ■ fly. As to "search," if forcible resistance is offered, such vessel runs the risk of being sunk on the spot, and if captured oi being condemned. This rule to apply also if a vessel attempts to escape by taking to flight. Finally, in regard to neutrals, came the question of "compensation"; and it is established that compensation is due to owners of vessels or cargo if it is found that there was no sufficient reason to justify seizure. These were all matters that the Conference after the most careful enquiry and prolonged discussion agreed to, and are now known among the Powers as the "Laws of Naval War." There was one subject, however, upon which the Powers, despite the efforts of some of the delegates, could not find common ground. This related to the conversion of merchant vessels into men-of-war on the high seas. As is well known, several of the leading nations of the world specially subsidise steamship owners whose vessels are built on such lines that they can be easily converted into men-of-war. This being so, one can partly understand why no agreement was reached upon such an important question, _