Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star WEDNESDAY, 19th SEPT. 1917. THE NAVAL OUTLOOK.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 September 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star WEDNESDAY, 19th SEPT. 1917. THE NAVAL OUTLOOK.

In the course of a recent address at Homo, Admiral Jellicoe made the following interesting reference to tho naval situation. “The fourth year of the naval war opens this week, and only those who are familiar with German literature —which preached the doctrine of the offensive—can appreciate the significance of naval ovents during the past throe years. The German High Seas fleet was not made that it might remain inactive month after month. It- is a great war engino. ■ No greater mistake can be mado than to underestimate its strength. It is far stronger, for instance, than tho British fleet was ton years ago and in years 1 before the opening of the war it was ! submitted to a very thorough intensive ■ system of training. Tho British Grand fleet has offered it a challenge to action which has not been accepted, for, on the oocasion of the Battle of Jutland the Germans had no thought of a fight to a' finish. For the whole year now the High Seas Fleet has ventured only beyond its protected minefields on one occasion—August 21 last year, and then it speedily sought shelter once more- Owing to the attention which the novel and barbarous submarine warfare has attracted there is perhaps a tendency to forget that continued success of our Grand Fleet in which the success or failure of the Allied cause is mainly dependent. Very little can ho said as long as the war lasts of the work of our Grand Fleet, hut it is the foundation whereon all , the efforts of the Allies rest. What has ( it dono? For a period of throe years it has robbed the Germans of all the advantages which they expected to> reap from the possession of a strong battle float. The force was to have sallied forth from time, to time. The Germans calculated that they would strike at their selected moment, when their fleet would be at a maximum strength and

! that they would catch our Grand Fleet > ’ at a moment when, owing to the absence of ships undergoing refits and repairs, the odds were little, if anything against them. They have not been permitted to carry out that scheme but we have always to be on our guard. AA'c cannot permit them, for instance, to emulate the example of Villeneuve when he eluded Nelson off Toulon and cruised to the West Indies and then got back to port again having suffered little injury as the result of Galder’s action. No, we must not contemplate such a' break-out on the part of the Germans, particularly now that the American people are m the war, and require peaco and fiecruity in order to mobolise their enormous'fighting power. The carrying out j of that purpose imposes a heavy responsibility on the Grand Fleet. The Grand Fleet consists of only two battle cruisers, but it includes also light cruisers and destroyers. If these destroyers were not working with the Grand Fleet they would be available for combating the submarine menace. It is sometimes suggested that for this and other reasons we ought to adopt a more offensive policy against the German High Seas Fleet. AYo are face to face with the. whole problem how to force a fleet which hides in luu - hour to come out and fight. It is a very old problem. Our forefathers were confronted with it. For twenty-one years it confronted them at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. A superior fleet can force an enemy fleet into port but it it is to be compelled to come out against its will, history suggests that compulsion must bo api>lied bv the army acting against its base or bases. 1 need not say any more on that issue, except to suggest that naval power and military power are complimentary one to the other. The navy alone cannot win a war, as history has always shown and the army alone cannot triumph as the Germans have learned.”

Al’ltoros of the remarks in this column yesterday regarding tho references to the jury system "on the YYosb Coast in the Legislative. Council a Christchurch paper now remarks that ‘“the failure of the jury system on the YY'ost Coast has been in the nature of a public scandal'.” This sweeping assertion demands immediate correction at the hands of the local authorities and a full statement on the. matter cannot be forwarded too quickly to the Loader of the Legislative Council so that tlm false impressions will be checked in the place where they first received publicity. The “YY’est Coast” with some people is supposed, evidently, to he synonoinous with some particular locality, whereas it embraces a long tract of country containing several centres. At at least three of these centres sittings of the Supreme Court are held, and there is certainly one centre where the jurv system has not failed. This should bo made plain to the uutlio'-i----ties, a s also the fact that it might he in the interests of justice to revert to tho former practice and make Hokitika the assize town for the YY’est Coast. Under the old conditions there. was never any doubt as to the fairness oi the administration of the jury system, and visiting Justices have complimented local juries on tho fairness with which they discharged responsible duties. If there has been any fuiluro of tho jury system on the YY'est- Coast —and some complaints camo directly from Greymouth citizens on the matter —the sooner the* Court sittings revert again entirely to Hokitika the hotter for the fair name of the YY’est Coast as affected by the jury administration. Certainly the false impression spreading elsewhere on he matter should he corrected.