REMARKABLE EXPLOITS BY A BRITISH SUBMARIN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2638, 8 December 1915, Page 5

REMARKABLE EXPLOITS BY A BRITISH SUBMARIN

The High Commissioner reports:— London, December 8., 8.35 p.m. "In tlio Sea. of Marmora on Thursday a British submarine tired into and damaged the Isinid railway. On Friday it torpedoed and sank the Turkish destroyer Yar Hissar outside the Gulf of Ismid, picking up two officers and forty men, whom it placed on board a sailing vessel. On Saturday it Sank a supply steamer of 3000 tons by gunfire, and destroyed four sailing vessels and also supply carriers."' BOASTED EXPEDITION AGAINST EGYPT. (Rec. Decelber 7, 9.15 p.m.) Amsterdam, December 7. The Germans at Constantinople claim two million Turks will be armed by the spring for an. expedition against Egypt. They will be ready early in January;. ' WAR RATES VIA SUEZ INCREASED. (Rec. December 7, 10.30 p.m.) Sydney, December 7. The Underwriters' Association has received London advices that the war rates for steamers via the t Suez have been- increased by one-half per cent. THE BRITISH IN MESOPOTAMIA TOWNSHEND'S DIVISION REACHES KUT-EL-AMARA. 1 The High Commissioner reports:— London, December 6, 7.45 p.m. "General Townshend Teached Kut-el-Amara without further fighting." NO-QUESTION OF ROUT OR DISASTER, ■ ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) (Rec. December 7, 5.5 p.m.) London, December 0. Mr. Lovat Fraser, in the "Daily Mail," writes: "There is no question of rout and disaster about the Bagdad rnweat. General Townshend not only removed his wounded by steamer, but was able to march with sixteen hundred prisoners. .The Turkish pursuit was most persistent for eight days. After the battle of Ctesiphon the enemy's guns disabled two of the armed river steamers which had been abandoned. The fighting was severe, and- the casualties indicate that two thousand of our dead were left on the field. "We must assume that the intelligence officers on the Tigris were not aware of the opposing enemy's strength, which is not surprising, since they were compelled to relv upon the reports of Orientals, who have most vaguo ideas about numbers. "The most anxious factor in the situation is that the news will soon reach Hamadan, which is the centre of the free-booters' activities. AnstroGerman agents corrupt members of the Persian Parliament, who have itching palms., and tribal desperadoes are lnred with rifles and gold. The German Minister is apparently at the head of this motley crew. Hamadan is a place worth watching. "The solution of these Near Eastern anxieties may be summed up in these words: 'Guard Egypt first!' Our prestige throughout the East will stand or fall, not bv failure or success in the Dardanelles, in our adventuro in the Balkans, or in this minor thrust at Bagdad, but in more than anything by our ability to hold the Canal It is a jugular vein, and we must hold it or we are undone. Failure to make it impregnable against attack will mean instant trouble in India, dismay in Australasia, and. the oollapse of our perstige in the Far East." TURKISH OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE. Amsterdam, 'December 6. A Turkish communique states that the British successfully retired to Kut-el-Amara. ,