British act on exports to the Netherlands

On 24 June 1915 the British Customs (Exportation Restriction) Act 1915 received royal assent. It allowed the government to prohibit the sending of goods to a given country other than to the address of a single designated consignee. From the outset the government made it clear that the country in question was the neutral Netherlands, and the consignee the Netherlands Overseas Trust (NOT). The British chronology of the war records the passing of the act as early as 3 June, but according to the parliamentary record the bill was not introduced in the House of Commons until 21 June, and the whole legislative process was completed within four days.

A gap in the licensing system

The bill was presented on 22 June by Ernest Pretyman, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in the new coalition government. He explained that earlier acts allowed the export of any goods to be prohibited, everywhere or to selected countries, especially those bordering Germany or Austria-Hungary. The list of prohibited articles already ran to 24 pages. They could be sent only under a licence from the War Trade Department, headed by Lord Emmott, which had to check the reliability of the consignee every time. This caused delays and congestion in the ports, and even so London had no influence over what happened to the goods once they reached the neutral country. Pretyman admitted that some cargoes were still reaching Germany by this route.

The Netherlands already had a proven solution. Since the autumn of 1914 prohibited goods had been sent there addressed to the NOT, and the trust guaranteed that neither they nor products made from them would reach the enemy. Its activity was supervised by the British consul. Now the trust had agreed to accept all goods exported from Britain to the Netherlands. The act gave the government a tool to make use of this agreement. As soon as it came into force the government intended to issue an already prepared proclamation prohibiting the dispatch to the Netherlands of anything not addressed to the trust. The Netherlands was not named in the act, so that the same mechanism could be applied to other neutral states if similar organisations were set up there. The act also increased the penalties. Illegal export was punishable by a fine of £500 or up to two years’ imprisonment, whereas the act of the previous session had provided for only £100. A shipowner who knowingly carried such a cargo was also liable. Enforcement was entrusted to the customs authorities.

Criticism in Parliament

The House of Commons took the bill through all its readings on 22 June itself. Members supported the act, but did not spare the government criticism. The Liberal Sir Henry Dalziel observed that the government was at last admitting that goods were reaching the enemy, although in March it had given assurances that the problem was under control. He demanded a complete ban on the export of cotton, needed to make explosives. He claimed that in Copenhagen there were not enough warehouses for the bales of cotton waiting to be shipped to Germany. Other members criticised the make-up of the War Trade Department, which included no one with experience of trade, and pointed out that thousands of tons of ore were flowing to Germany through the Netherlands, which had not a single blast furnace.

On 23 June the bill went to the House of Lords. The next day the Civil Lord of the Admiralty, the Duke of Devonshire, asked the Lords to pass it that same afternoon so that it could receive royal assent at once. He admitted that the system might not be entirely watertight, but said it would protect the interests of British exporters and gave reasonable certainty that goods would not pass through a neutral country to the enemy. The Lords suspended standing orders and passed the act without amendment. On this basis the trust could become the only lawful consignee of British exports to the Netherlands. In September 1915 London concluded an agreement with it on rationing Dutch imports.