London, Oct. 20.
Astonishment is expressed in offi~ cial quarters here that Moscow should forward a protest against the list of Jcontraband goods published by Great Britain on the eve of the day when trade negotiations are scheduled to Jopen between British and Soviet representatives in London, Once more it is felt that the Kremlin stretches Jout one hand only to strike with the "In general, the position is that Germany is now effectively cut off from nearly all overseas sources of supply. At the same time, it remains necessary to examine all cargoes with the greatest care, "While the. British Government naturally desires to take into full account the "bona fide' trading needs of neutral countries, it is determined to exercise its belligerent rights to the full to intercept all cargoes of contraband suspected of having an ultimate enemy destination," "Mr. Cross concluded in his statement:
Have Amsterdam. Oct, 26, Despite British assurances that British warships enforcing the naval blockade against Germany would interfere as little as possible with the food shipments to neutrals, Netherlands shipowners were very dissatisfied at the way in which the British were applying the contraband control, it was learned today, Netherlands owners charged that the British were keeping Netherlands ships sometimes six weeks in The Downs before allowing them to proceed. It was estimated that an average of thirly Netherlands merchant men were kept at The Downs for investigation, The owners, nevertheless, expressed confidence that the negotiations of the Netherlands delegation being carried on in London at present, may soon result in a more efficient British control system. since commercial circles here were convinced that Britain herself is anxious not to force Netherlands business completely on to the continent, which would mean a greater part of their business would go to Germany.—United Press.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.