“SERIOUS GROUNDS FOR COMPLAINT”

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21559, 23 January 1940, Page 7

“SERIOUS GROUNDS FOR COMPLAINT”

British Methods Annoy America United Press Association—By Electric Tel egraph Copyrigh t (Received January 22, 9.55 p.m.) NEW YORK. January 21. The “New York Times” in an editorial says that many annoying ingredients have gone into the diplomatic brew that boiled up at the week-end because of British interference with American mails and foreign trade. The British Ambassador (Lord Lothian) has been left in no doubt as to the United States displeasure. Probably the most serious ground for complaint

has been the detention of American ships outside British territorial waters for the searching of neutral mails. Freighters to and from Bergen have been forced into the war zone to have their cargoes examined. This is more serious than the search of a clipper’s mails at Bermuda which is indisputably British. Disappointment Expressed The “New York Herald Tribune” in an editorial infers that the State Department’s disappointment at the rejection of the mail protest refers less to ’he protection of mails than to the possible effect of the British attitude on American opinion.” There are some hints that our protest is designed to give the British an opportunity to make effusive apologies to unimportant concessions which could be used to mollify domestic criticism. The flat legalistic rejection of the protest coupled with the art, if justifiable, query “why have you not protested against the German method of sinking mails without warning?” has not been helpful. The State Department cannot publicly admit that it will protest only to the point where the protests hurt one side, but to continue protesting with a mental deservatlon that it will not be pressed to the point where it embarrasses the recipients is productive only of confusion, bad blood and misconceptions. The “Tribune” urges that the protest must be used with the caution of severest realism. It should not begin with the defence of abstract rights without considering the practical effect on the war and United States interests therein, but when a protest is made it should leave no doubt that it is meant seriously.