Germany thus proclaims a paper blockade of all the British
coast, to be carried out, when possible, by submarines ! Thie new act of war is really too childish for discussion. It means no fresh development whatever. The Germans, as before, will try to destroy our ships with submarines and by sowing more mines, and they will doubtless have one or two small successes. The main course of trade will not, however, be in the least interfered with. As regards our food supplies, we are a thousand times more alarmed by the Labour Members' menacing motion for fixing a maximum price for wheat, and by the Government's willingness to inquire whether it would not be a good thing to prevent the free access of corn to our shores. Since commercial confidence is a frail flower, we think it would probably be as well for the Government to answer the paper blockade by adopting the policy which we urged at the beginning of the war, but which has been only partially adopted—namely, the gift by the Government of a complete and free insurance against war risks for all British ships and all cargoes consigned to the British Islands. With this answer to the German submarine menace our traders could go ahead without the slightest fear of loss, .
