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Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16265, 16 July 1918, Page 6

When a discussion took place at the Hague Conference on the question of prohibiting floating mines and other diabolical contrivances, the German delegate, who showed great unwillingness to agree with the proposal, said, in effect, that German naval- officers could always be relied upon to maintain the traditions of the sea as regards chivalry and humanity. What the humanity and chivalry of German sailors are worth in practice can be judged from a statement made by a British naval officer reported in our cable news to-day. A British patrolboat in the Atlantic discovered a derelict U-boat, and rescued the crew. Before blowing up the vessel the Commander asked if all were safe. The submarine Commander replied "Yes." He called the roll, and all answered. When, they pushed off, preparatory to dropping a depth charge, the Commander of the patrol-boat heard a tapping, which continued. Despite repeated assurances that all had been saved, the British Commander did not believe th© German. He searched the U-boat, and found four British sea- j men tied up.

These facts speak for themselves, and no word of, comment is necessary to bring home the infamy of the German brute who thus brought n4verending shame and disgrace on tho Navy which can tolerato such unspeakable ruffians in its : service. It would have beon treating him better than ho deserved had he been put back on the submarine before the depth bomb was fired. Such conduct as that Of the is so absolutely repellent to the English mind that it is no wonder that the publio here and in England have hardly yet been able to grasp the full extent of the German's brutality. On this subject some remarks in a letter received by a Christchurch resident from his son in England seems very much to the point. The writer says:—

''The British public is slowly realising what tho Gorman is. One still hears too much about the German merely obeying the orders of his superiors. No one doubts there are decent men even among the Germans, but the great mass of them, especially the Prussians, are devoid of all chivalry, and aro at the best cruel, calculating beasts. We are so used to their brutality that we are apt to forget it. The authorities, too, in our own country seem rather to encourage us in this attitude. Recently, however, they have allowit to become known that the German air force recently raided our big hospitals, in France far behind the fighting iine. The raid was a very intense one, carried' out with bombs and machine-gun fire from a low altitude. There could have been no mistake about the hospitals. The information states that there were hundreds of casualties. Prisoners of war, too, are bringing back tales of their suffering.'£

The war, arhong other changes, has increased the list of "precious metals" which has usually implied a reference to gold and silver. A London firm of bullion merchants points out that several other metals have now acquired commercial values far exceeding those of gold and silver. It. is reported, for instance, that the United States Government has just commandeered the stocks of platinum, palladium and iridium in that country, and has fixed the respective prices at the equivalents of £21, £27, and £35 per troy ounce. On these bases, we are told, the price for platinum is twenty-fold, for palladium ten-fold, and for iridium thirtyfold that which once obtained. These high quotations, however, seem insignificant beside that for radium, which, at £16 per milligramme, works out at £500,000 per troy ounce. * Referring yesterday to the danger that war pensions may be turned to bad political uses, we described as "novel" the resolution passed by the House of Commons to the effect that all questions relating to war pensions should be kept free from party politics. A correspondent writes to us to-day in protest against the idea that there is anything novel in a. warning against the political peril lurking in all State pension schemes. Of course there is nothing novel in that —"The Press" has often pointed out the-danger. What we described as a novelty was the formal adoption by the House of Commons of a resolution of the kind reforred to. Wo are glad to acknowledge Sir James Allen's good advice on the point, and we hope that public men who value honesty in politics will lose no opportunity to arouse public opinion.