Havre and become liable to heavy port dues and charges, and then proceed to London. But this is only another example of the disposition among foreign nations to restrict operations to their own ships, of which the reservation of coasting trade is the chief illustration.
Is there any step which the British Empire might take to protect itself in such matters? It would be a useful subject for discussion at the next Colonial Conference. The reservation of British Imperial coasting trade to British ships, if adopted at all, should be reservation in the broadest sense—to British and colonial ships between one portion of the British Empire and another, between the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, and South Africa, and so on. But complete reservation would be contrary to the spirit of government often described as the 'open door,' and would not be justifiable against foreign Powers who admit British ships to their own coasting trade. The wiser course would be a qualified reservation of the coasting trade of the British Empire, exercised only against foreign vessels belonging to those nations which did not grant reciprocal treatment to British shipowners abroad. It may possibly be urged that, as the tonnage of foreign nations trading between British ports is comparatively small, it is not worth risking reprisals by them against us with our extensive merchant fleet as a target But we need not fear reprisals, for several reasons. The nations in question already do what it is suggested the United Kingdom should do, and would therefore have no cause of resentment; the United Kingdom has a latent strength for effective retaliation, because the coast-line of her Empire is the greatest of any country in the world; and even if the tonnage of foreign vessels trading between British ports is comparatively small, it is not so insignificant that it ought to be ignored. It has been calculated to be 9 per cent. The qualified reservation of British Imperial coasting trade, as above indicated, deserves the careful consideration of the Imperial Government. Complete reservation is very
