Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, JULY 11th, 1918. ENEMY RAIDERS

Hokitika Guardian, 11 July 1918, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, JULY 11th, 1918. ENEMY RAIDERS

In the course of an article dealing with the loss of the Wimmera a northern writer says that apparently, the mine that- caused the disaster was laid by »ne of the enemy raiders known to hav,. been in the Pacific at one time or another, and which were cleared out by the, patrolling Japanese squadron, of whose work there is not much made public. Into the seas thus cleared, comments the writer German enterprise placed at least two more raiders—the Wolff and the Sreadier. They caine with instructions to follow the Napoleonic maxim of making war support war. Coal and provisions and “loot of various kinds to improve the lot of

the raiders and help pay the expenses of their filhustering, these they were to got- from their victims. Ammunition was probably sent in trailers bribed to be at certain try.sting places at speed (iecl times. The Seeadler bv a foolish piece of neglect on the part of her commander was left in an exposed situation and succumbed to a storm. The Wolff raided the son. She was a smart boat, probably a liner of prewar days, of between (K)oq and 8000 tons, about tho size of the Gothic, the vessel which so impressed New Zealand in the last, years of the last century. Her armament was of guns up to say, six-inches. Wo suppose so, because it is impossible to imagine that the German Admiralty would send out a raider not as fully armed, as her tonnage permitted. The record of this vessel is not yet fully revealed. But enough has been published to enable us to know certain points in her career. We speak, of course, only from the evidence rhnt has been published. That establishes that early jn her cruise the Wolff fell in with the Wairuua, of the Union Company's fleet, off the the'Kermadee Islands, captured the crew, and sank their ship; that various vessels were captured and disposed of; that finally the Wolff and one of her, prizes, a. collier, with many thousand tons i of coal on board, made for home, the Wolff getting into the Baltic safe, the other vessel piling up on tho Jutland coast Now, the point of this story hearing on the case of the Witnmera is tho fact that the, Wolff captured tho Wairuua so near tho Now Zealand coast as the Reminders. That establishes the presence of the Wolff in New Zealand waters. There are various stories of sea planes, having been observed soaring over different places, all of which are taken for granted and referred to the Wolff. Whatever made be the. ease with these, whether they are true or false, there can be no doubt that- the appearance of a suspicious craft off the Southland coast is authenticated. This establishes, with the capture off the Kertnndecs, the discovery of mines at the places above indicated establishes a strong presumption that these were laid by the Wolff in the course of that tour. The question arises of how many would this vepsel be likely to carry. To that, one can answer with fair approach to the truth, with the supposition that a vessel with such a mission would probably have on board between 300 and MX) mines of the same pattern as the mines swept up by Captain Hall Thomson’s men. Thus wo have a fairly good case against: tho Wolff to support a murder charge against the German service.