MINES IN N.Z. WATERS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16148, 28 February 1918, Page 6

MINES IN N.Z. WATERS.

LAID BY PROPERLY-FITTED

ENEMY VESSEL

OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY NAVAL

ADVISER

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, February The following statement is issued by the Naval Adviser to the New Zealand Government with reference, to the discovery of mines in New Zealand waters:—

"In order to allay various runiouis as to the origin and typo of these mines, it is pointed out that thej are of known and distinctly Gorman typo and origin. They were firmly moored in position, and it is only under very exceptional circumstances that they would drift

"They are n<?t such as could bo nanufactured locally, nor could any imatours deal with them, and itmay be safely assumed that they were laid by a vessel properly fittod for tho purpose by the enemy. "It is practically impossiblo for them to have been laid surreptitiously by any uoutral or other vessel which visited New Zealand or other British ports, as concealment of tho mines themselves, and the nocessary structural apparatus for launching them, would be practically impossiblo.

"It seems clear, therofore, that they must have been laid by a hostile enomy vessel, properly commissioned and organised for tho work."