FOREIGN RELATIONS, 19 50, VOLUME I


facturer's export of the specific items to the United Kingdom for the
years 1936, 1937, and 1938.
Trans-shipment Licenses
   With the exception of the following goods, licenses are not required
 for goods which are imported and entered with the customs for expor-
 tation after transit through the United Kingdom, or by way of trans-
 shipment: Butter; all fats and oils (edible and non-edible including
 shortening and margarine) ; all oil-bearing seeds; soap; fresh, frozen,
 pickled, salted, smoked, canned, and dehydrated meat (excluding
 fresh and frozen poultry, game, rabbits, and venison).


   One of the principal advantages of the present system from the
standpoint of the British authorities is its almost instant adaptability
to changing conditions and requirements. The enabling authority
granted to the Board of Trade is exceedingly broad in scope and gen-
eral in terms. iSimilarly, the specific import control orders are them-
selves general, leaving for day-to-day adjustments, if required, the
degree of restriction to be imposed. Such adjustments lare made with
public notice, but actual practice is in fact often contrary to public
announcement.
   The system also permits, with or without public notice, the allocation
of imports to Empire countries, or to any specified foreign country
or countries, on a differential basis, and the adjustment of these allo-
cations quickly from time to time, as required or desired, without
legislation or formal regulation of any kind.
   A large number of official commodity controls were set up in the
Ministry of Supply at the beginning of the war. At first these controls
were mainly for the purpose of controlling domestic trade in the major
essential raw materials, but the number of controls and the scope of
their activities was gradually extended to include a large number of
commodities, and in many cases the control of all phases of the respec-
tive trades covered. Originally not directly associated with the im-
port licensing system, these controls gradually took over the effective,
as distinct from the formal control of the importation of the com-
modities under their jurisdictions, and for some commodities, appli-
cations for import licenses are made only to the appropriate control
of the Ministry of Supply for approval and transmission to the
Import Licensing Department of the Board of Trade.
   The Ministry of Food is the sole importer of all basic foodstuffs
 so that any food product (with the exception of certain fresh fruits
 and vegetables in season) is either directly purchased by the Govern-
 ment or with the assistance of existing importing concerns. When


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