NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16143, 22 February 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

LORD JELLICOE ON U-BOATS. Tho worst feature, from the Government's of view, about «ot-1 ting rid of high o&cials is that it gives the opportunity, which they were debarred from v.sin- while saddled with official responsibility, for candid criticisms and frank revelations. Wo do not know whether Lord .Telkcog feels aggrieved with the Prime Minister over the recent changes in the Admiralty which placed Sir llcsdyn Wemyss in the position " of First Sea Lord. but some remarks he made in the course of a speech at Hull at the boginning of this month, and cabled at some length to Australia, suggest that t he feels at liberty to say what he thinks j and, within limits, tell what he knows. > The only passage from the speech which reached New Zealand was the : one in which Lord Jellicoe said: "I am afraid we are in for a bad time For a 1 few months, but about August, if the nation holds out, I believe we shall be able to say that the submarine menace has been killed." He went on to say that tho reason British shipping losses are heavy in the Irish Sou v. - as that there is shoal water on both sides, and the first intimation of the presence of the cnemv was usually the sinking of, our vessels. The submarine was hunted down, but it stayed on the bottom until it was neccssary for the destroyers to return to port to re-fuel. The submarine then resumed its pirate's career. Lord Jellicoe continued:—'"'Lord Fisher (a former First Sea Lord) prepared a memorandum in 1911 stating that if Germany went to war she would use submarines against our merchant-' men. That memorandum went to tho Admiralty, but nobodv in a responsible position agreed that Germany would do ! such a thing (at that time Mr Win-i ston Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty, and Sir Arthur Knyvot Wilson First Sea Lord). Lord Fisher was right then, as he has been right _ in many cases. I Of course the British Navy was unpre- j pared to deal with submarines. If Lord Fisher's words had been believed ■ there would havo been time to adopt measures which would have effectually stopped the submarines from getting out. This is the only way to deal with j them. It is a superhuman task to j save merchantmen when submarines are ! out, as the submarines can steam under j water for twenty-four hours, and lie! under water for another forty-eight j hours. It is similarly difficult to keep i submarines to their ports, as tho water : within a 150-milo radius of Heligoland i allows submarines to 'sit' on tho bottom. If detected on the surface they flee to tho bottom and await night, when they can continue their course unseen." In concluding his remarks on this subject Lord Jellicoe said:—"l have asked Mr Lloyd George (Prime Minister) often enough not to make optimistic speeches about submarines, for they are always followed by a long list of losses. The Cabinet can reserve its | optimistic speeches uijtil August." As we pointed out the other day, Mr Lloyd George only a few weeks ago was proclaiming his indifference to tho submarine danger, at tho same tirno that the First Sea Lord was warning the country not to think the danger was at an end. "BODY-GRABBING." .Nowadays the official reports by Sir Douglas Haig contain almost daily references to raids on the enemy trenches, often, apparently, on so small a scale as to make some people wonder why they are regarded as sufficiently important to say anything about. Some light is thrown on tho matter by the reports given by Philip Gibbs- and Reuter's correspondent at British Headquarters of the recent Australian raid in tho Messines sector about ten or twelve days ago. For some days previously, according to Reuter, there had been more traffic than usual upon certain German railways, and the Australians' curiosity was aroused. They also learned from a prisoner bow his division was training intensively for an offensive. Tho Australians, on getting this informa-1 tion, arranged to go over and gather moro prisoners and obtain more details from them. On tho night in question, when a comparative lull reigned, the British guns suddenly crashed outj, and very shortly afterwards the Australian raiding parties left their posts and crossed No Man's Land. The Germans put up a desperate resistance, in the evident desire to prevent the capture of prisoners. Their positions were heavily manned, and a hail cf machine-gun fire greeted the Australians. In the end tho latter got away with three machines, a trench mortar, and 37 prisoners, besides killing, it was estimated, a hundred of the enemy. Their own casualties totalled twenty. j Philip Gibbs, in referring to the raid, said that this "body-grabbing business" was keeping both sides alert all day and night. "Tho Germans are nervous, and lavishly using rockets with sudden spasms of ma-chine-guns whenever the sentries see visions in No Man's Land." So, besides keeping the Germans on the jump, these raids enable the British commanders to secure sources of information as to German activities behind their lines, in the shape of prisoners. The capture of five prisoners, as recorded yesterday, may therefore be a less trivial incident than it appears. THE COMING STRUGGLE. "I shall be in Paris by April Ist," declares Hindenburg. Tho date mentioned . is well suited to a statement which is the biggest dose of "dope" yet handed out to the German people. Long-suffering as they are, however, it is just within the bounds of possibility that when All Fools' Day dawns with Hindenburg still far from Paris, they may resent being fooled on such a gigantic scale. The boast is significant of the immense importance that the German military party attach to the coming offensive. Cable messages for some weeks past have prepared us for a conflict on a vaster scale than the world has ever seen before, in which every ounce of strength that Germanv can spare, every deadly device that she can use, will be thrown against the Allies. "The clash, when it does come, will be the most stupendous thing in point of numbers ever known," wroto a correspondent, after viewing tho British preparations. It is pointed out that on a front of moro than 450 miles, between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000 British, with 2,500,000 or 3,000,000 Frenchmen, will meet tho full force of a blow from an army of between 2,500,000 and 4,000,000 German and Austrian soldiers. "At the lowest estimate 6,500,000 men will face each other on the West front. Each force will hav e heavy guns and howitzers numbered by thousands, and field-guns counted by tens of thouands, with probably 100,000 machine-guns, or more. These guns will fling away in one day far more than the whole supply of munitions which Britain possessed at the beginning of the war. Immediately behind these millions, dragging material, carrying food and wounded and impedimenta and munitions, digging and clearing and building and doctoring, are armies almost as large, under the strictest military discipline. And behind these again, making the shells and the guns and the food and the thousand requirements of transport a re in Britain about 10,000,000 workers, in France not quite so many, and in Germany and Austria considerably more. Engaged in war work in

Europeaaloen e there must be not less than 50,000,000 people."

GERMAN AND BRITISH PREPARATIONS.

Wo have been told much about tlv* enormous efforts that Germany is making—tanks moving at four miles an hour (the Germans first derided the tanks, and then claimed that they were really a German invention), now gases, masses of guns from the Italian and ltussianr fronts, new railways and causoways of concrete through the muddy, water-logged districts of Flanders, and huge numbers of aeroplanes. And there is nothing in all this to make us afraid, or even groatly anxious. Though little has been said on the British side, after tho customary British way, there is no reason to fear that our military authorities havo been asleep, while all this has been going on. The London "Daily News" pointed out a few days ago that the British Army is wonderfully reorganised, that the artillery has incrt>ased, that there is a great development in the Flying Corps, and tanks, and that the companies of engineers and flame projectors have become an army. The British mechanics and specialists' on tho front are estimated at 100,000. As for the enormous quantities of artillery that the Germans are said to havo at command, several British expert? point out that the guns captured in Russia and Italy require shells of a calibro hitherto not made in Germany, especially Russia's 4.5 in howitzers, and Italy's Sin guns. They agreo that tho shells can be made, but to keep up and transport a uniform supply will be difficult. ' The Times" leader sums up as follows: ti We may seo some new development of offensive processes, but we remain _ confident that the enemy's remaining legions will be shattered against tho Allies' unbroken line. Of the British armies it may truly be and that the moral is as high, as ever. They have made a very good winter, and recovered from the strain of prolonged operations. They have felt the period of waiting less than in previous seasons. Wo know much more about wintering than in 1914, our organisation is complete, and tho comfort of troops thoroughly guarded with ampler leave and moro rest in tho' billets. Moreover, for many weeks everyone instinctively has known what is coining, and the work of preparation has gone rapidly forward. A spirit of confidence pervades all ranks. They ask nothing better than that the Gorman commanders shall throw their last great stake in this mightiest of wars. Prepared at all points, we await with stem conviction the culminating onslaught of the Kaiser's hordes."