Scandinavian Contacts The Foreign Ministers of the three Scandinavian countries,
who have been meeting in the past week at 'Copenhagen, have had plenty of material for conversation. Reparations hit a great deal more than the country that pays (or fails to pay) them. Germany is compelled to restrict imports as well as increase exports, so Norway, Sweden and Denmark find a traditional market half- closed. The effect of that is to turn their thoughts towards this country, though the Runciman duties have affected Norway and Sweden, handicapped already by the French surtax on goods from countries with depreciated currencies. It was always intended that the tentative and slender tariff understanding embodied in the Oslo Convention between the Scandinavian Countries, Belgium and Holland, should, if possible, be Widened so as to bring all five countries into a special Commercial relationship with Great Britain. If there is to be a protective tariff in this country there would be every advantage in negotiating special terms with the five Oslo Convention signatories. And the possibility of a currency understanding on a sterling basis should by no means be lost sight of. Sentiment and interest point in the same direction here.
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