A letter from the Chief Secretary of Queensland (17 December 1914) to the Prime Minister, is referred to this Department for report as to whether the action of the Government of Queensland in obtaining goods from the New York house of A.B. Limited is contrary to the proclamations against trading with the enemy.

The proclamations forbid persons within the King's dominions directly or indirectly to obtain goods from an enemy or from an enemy country. Probably, the prohibition extends to obtaining goods from a neutral or a neutral country which are known to have been produced or manufactured in the enemy's country. If, therefore, A.B. Limited, of New York, were simply an agency whereby the goods of the German house of A.B. Limited were distributed, the Government of Queensland ought not to obtain goods from them. This would be so notwithstanding that the proclamation of 12 September provides that transactions with a branch of an enemy's firm locally situated in neutral territory outside Europe are not to be treated as trading with the enemy.

In the present case, however, it appears from B. and Company's circular of 16 September that they are also American manufacturers, and that the goods which they are offering are solely goods manufactured by them in the United States. If this be a correct statement of the facts, the transaction of the Queensland Government with them is quite unobjectionable. It may however be a ruse to keep their German trade alive. This however would be a difficult matter to determine, and unless it were established clearly the Queensland Government would, as the Government Analyst points out, be morally bound, and (it may be added) legally bound also.

In the circumstances, the Queensland Government would appear to be acting with propriety in accepting and paying for the goods.

[Vol. 13, p. 271]