GERMAN COLONIES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2232, 19 August 1914, Page 7

GERMAN COLONIES

OPEN TO ATTACK • THE BOMBARDMENT OF PORTS. No danger to Australia, or to Australian shipping is to be expected from Germany, according to Colonel Foster, an'' Australian military x expert. , Interviewed recently at the Australian Cluti, ' Colonel Foster ' stated that he thought it extremely' unlikely that Germany would ottaok' Australian porta. 'itV contrary to precedent and'.■.'•baa stxagety;" : he said. ''"In.the first place, Germany has in the Pacific only a couple of cruisers'of about 11,000 tone, and a fow smaller boats, and-they, will most probably,'l-should think, take shelter 'at Kianohow'. Auxiliary cruisers t Where' are .they to come from? No,' so far "as I know, there are no facilities in the Pacifib'either for coaling or arming merchant bruisers. Simpsonshaieh, or ' Rabaul,- as'• it is called now, is";nothing but a few houses, a wharf ; ]ust long .enough to let two ordinary-sized steamers come a' shed for 6toring, -trade,-, and so on. Absolutely nothing else—no coal, no arms, no forts. I' know ,'tho place very well, and Governor also—a. most harmless civilian. who has siniply made the-place himself as .'.a 'trade". centre.- '-''Yes; r there'' r is stirae' eort of a'station in Samoa, and-prob-ably much after; the ?ame pattern. You may tike it ■as;'jrfsttx',',P«rtain that .Germany is' not going to waste ship's in.att'omptine to interfere with pur trade, with the absolute' certainty'-that thev will'all be' ounk or captured in'a Very i 6hort. : space N df'time. -y '•-'." V ' Bombardments Unlikely, "Another thing," continued Colonel Foster, "is the suggestion that the German Pacific sanadron might attempt a i-aid on our ports, Well, all I can say is that : it'is in the highest, degree, unlikely. Ships are never intended to attack the land; they can't do much damage to forts, becaiise. the magazines are all underground, and they stand a particularly 'good chance of being disabled foi their real business—fighting other ships. As for bombarding open ports, there's nothing to gain by it, and it's ogainst the Hague's Convention's rules. If there it any advantage in a bombardment at all it is by, blowing up magazines or setting fire to dockyards and so on. Bombarding harmless" towns simply, makes your enemy the more ,angry, and' in any case bombardment is" never practised by a , nation with a weaker fleet, siniply because it' is wasteful, and diverts your ships from their proper work arid proper bases. , "I have always said that British com. merce in a naval war should flow on without any interruption. T t is essential to the well-being of everybody. I suppose nobody imagines that thie war has come as-a surprise to England. The Admiralty has been preparing for it for years past. Its arrangements have always had in .view tho protection of commerce, and, naturally, ore 'as' effioient as possible. The 1 only' difference is that whereas England I Has been expecting to fight Germany I single-handed, the present rituation is very much .lightened/' . ' ;.. An '-interesting Proposal. "Do you think India is likely to rive any trouble?" Colonel- Foster was asked He considered for a moment—"No I don't think so. Or Egypt either-Egypf s- another point. You see, we're not withdrawing any troops from there—unless, of ocuxse, Australia were to send troope to relieve them there. That'would be very useful, and, by Jove" the Colonel's eves sparkled at the idea, "why shouldn't AW tralia turn out and take some of the German possessions? Why shouldn't we go np and seize Kianchow? It would be a jolly good thing for orar men and for England, too. And there's an interesting analogy for it in the early half of the eighteenth century, when the American colonists off, their own bat captured Louis , - berg, in Capo Breton Island, from the Frenoh. Just a few English warshipathat was all (he assistance they had. The German Navy Regarding England's probable line' of action, Colonel Foster said it was difficult to prophesy. At any rate, he asserted "positively, it res very unlikely the British-fleet would attempt t) destroy the Kiel Canal. "Ships," ho 1 repeated, "are not sent to attack the land. Aβ' to an attack on the German Navy., the difficulty •probably would be to hire it out into the open. It would bo almost certain,, he thought, to go to ground i.e., to get into a port and stay there as long as possible. As to the possibility suggested by. Sir A. Conan Doyle, in the last "Strand" magazine, that hostile submarines might starve Er.gland out by sinking her provision ships before they could land, Colonel Foster scouted it as improbable, if not utterly out of the question. The sinking of neutral ships was, moreover, contrary to the decisions of the Hague Convention, though, of conrso, that a nation liko Germany, with such vital issues at stake, might not be too scrupulous when desperate' ' 1 "The longer the war. continues the better for England, as compared with other Powers, because her resources are so much greater, and because she can build ships faster than any other nation in the world." ■

The Best Map of the Scat of War can now be obtained showing all Towns of importance, Railways, Steamer lines, and distances. Size, 2G x 22 inches. Price Is. 3d. posted. Map Dopartment, Box KS7, G.P.0., Wellington.-Advt. Owing tO;tho snecess of. their moneylending : scheme the Ilford Council are borrowing .£20,000 to .extend the facilities by which ratepayers can Ixmtow money to buy house property. Five hundred -perrons have already been enabled to buy tlieir own homes. It is estimated that Cireator Vaucouver has a population of over 207,000.The population of the United Stato3 was fecontly estimated at 08,781,321.