The Governor of Malta has issued a proclamation in which
he forbids absolutely the supply of coal " to any belligerent fleet proceeding to the seat of war, or to any position on the line of route with the object of intercepting neutral ships on suspicion of carrying contraband of war." The prohibition is absolute, whether the belligerent ships coal directly from the shore, or from colliers accompanying them. This order is, of course, issued under instructions which have been sent to all officers governing Colonies or in charge of British stations on a coast, and will prove, it is believed, and is, indeed, admitted by the Russians, the greatest possible em- barrassment to vessels intended to harass our trade. Such vessels are compelled either to rely on coal from British ports or on comparatively slow colliers, which will hamper all their movements. The Russians are said to be very angry at the order, which one of their journals says is an act of hostility, inasmuch as Japanese ships can never want coal except from their own ports ; but they are bound to remember that they themselves declared coal to be contraband of war. The Admiralty, of course, remember that there are one or two places, such as Chagos, where a belligerent might take coal by violence without our hearing of it till the "pirate" had reached the Far East.
