THE NAVY.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 December 1917, Page 4

THE NAVY.

OUR SUBMARINES .AND OUR BLOCKADE. Lord Curzon moved the resolu- j tion of thanks in the Lords. It was an unprecedented proceeding, he said, at this stage of a war, but we ; wanted the soldiers and sailors to know as they entered the fourth winter of war and as fresh sacrifices lay before them that we did not forget what they had suffered and endured up to now. We wanted to tell them that here and now our hearts are filled with pride and admiration and syuupatliy for their incomparable services, for their magnificent devotion, and lor the incredible losses they had sustained. t It was unjust to assume that because there had been few spectacular incidents on the sea that the Navy had been untrue to old traditions which had made it the glory of this country and had given us the mastery of the seas. The Navy had made the war possible month by month and day by day. It was the great dynamic force which, though hidden, had enabled the transport of troops and of munitions , to be done. We heard a great deal , about the German submarine, but , people seemed to forget that we had submarines also. They had ' made 40 legitimate attacks on war ! vessels and' 270 attacks on other vessels. Over 3,300 vessels were now engaged in mine-sweeping ' and patrol. The efficiency of the : service might be gathered from the 3 fact that in 1915 256 out of 1,400 1 ships managed to slip through the ■ blockade. At the end of 1916 only 3 60 out of 3,000 got through. 1‘ HUMOROUS “TIGERS.”

The British soldier as seen in the war was a model of cheerful endurance and uncomplaining devotion, possessed of a quaint and irrepressible humour, contemptuous of danger, a tiger in fighting, chivalrous and humane to the enemy, able to think as well as act, pondering deeply 7 on the problems and issues of the war. Well might they be proud to belong to a race whicn had produced such men. Our airmen Lord Curzon described as knights of the air. It was in them that the spirit of the knight-errantry lived to-day. Such service called for presence ol mind and courage, and in the forced combat there was swift victory or sudden death —it all seemed like the survival of the romance of abygone age. The 100 flying officers and 66 machines that we possessed at the outbreak of war had grown into an enormous fleet, consisting of thousands of machines and tens of thousands of men. When the Gothas were shrieking over London and : the civil population were cowering in cellars he thought of those brave men who were riding the darkness and the whirlwind and in those high , altitudes were risking their lives to save us from destruction. (“ Hear, hear.”) We had captured in all theatres of war more than 159,000 prisoners, 683 guns, 1,124,000 square miles of territory in Asia, Africa, and the the Pacific. In Egypt we had recovered over 20,000 square miles of territory which the enemy had overrun, and in the western theatre we had, in conjunction with our Allies, recovered 1,410 square miles of French and Belgian territory. Lord Crewe, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord supporting the resolution, made eloquent tributes to the valour of our fighting men.

BEVERAGES FOR THE HOLIDAYS That many of t-lie non-alcoholic drinks sold to-day are manufactured larerlv from chemicals is a matter only too true. But the beverages-of one firm may be cited as an exception these being those of Messrs Thomson and Co., whose trademark and watchword is “Purity,” and in the preparation of whose drinks real fruit juices and fruit extracts are used, and these are. the best and purest obtainable. In addition to super-excellent materials, Thomson and Co utilise water from an artesian spring, and machinery lined with silver to prevent contamination; while their factory is a model of sanitation. As additional safeguards, nil cordials are pasteurised after being hermetically examined at intervals to further ensure absolutely purity. When celebrating the festive, season it behoves you, then, to see that you get Thomson's Waters and cordials. For use at home in the camp, or elsewhere tilery’s nothing purer in the world than Thomson’s Ginger Wine, Thomson’s Raspberry Vinegar. Thomson’s Limojuice Cordial, or Thomson’s Carbonated Waters.