Trade with Germany Sir Frederick Leith-Ross's task in Berlin is
to dis• entangle, with German experts, the complicated problem of trade payments between Germany and Britain. The recent Exchange Clearing Agreement has not produced the results hoped for, chiefly because the Sondermarks which were to be available at the Bank of England for sale to importers of German goods and for payment to exporters to Germany have not been much used by the former. The Bank, it may be said, is very unwilling that compulsion should be applied. But that is not all. Certain kinds of raw material which were subject to supervision by German control' boards were not within the scope of the exchange agreement ; and since new control boards have been set up to supervise imports of every kind, the agreement ceases to have what value it had. Though the Empire as a whole sells more to Germany than she buys, Britain alone buys more than she sells. She is therefore in a strong position to insist on a fair exchange agreement if her policy is not unduly swayed by banking considerations.
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