Sir Alfred Booth sent a letter of remarkable good sense
to the Times of Wednesday. The shipping figures, he says, mean that during the last three months sixty-seven merchant vessels were doing the work which was done formerly by a hundred vessels. Of these sixty-seven ships, forty-six were British and twenty-one foreign. Although it was possible by good management to increase the carrying-power of the ships still left at our disposal, no amount of management would enable sixty-seven ships to do the work of a hundred. And of course we can actually control only forty-six out of those sixty-seven. The obvious conclusion is that we cannot go on importing all the cargoes for which we found uses in peace. The State should prohibit the importation of all cargoes not necessary to the successful conduct of the war. Essential commerce can be carried on, but the old standard of personal comfort cannot, and must not, be provided for.
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