Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 17th, 1920. THE WEEK.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 July 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 17th, 1920. THE WEEK.

The death of Admiral Sir John Either means the passing of one of t.-li J greatest of naval men. Lord Fisher was the creator of th British Fleet as we know it fo-day. The records will put it strongly that lint ftp’ Fisher the British Xav.v would not have beeu able t--play in the Great War the splendid part the' decisive part—that it did much that lie wanted to do was not done. In some respects the German fleet, m spite of his efforts, surpassed the British, The culminating proof! is the blowing up of the greatest- British bat-tle-cruisers in tie- battle of Jutland

which was responsible for the loss oT personnel in that famous engagement, ,a loss roughly speaking of double the loss sustained by the German 'Hv, i Sea Fleet. Fisher, who had stood at the'head of the movement for the radical reform of the British Fleet hid watched the progress of the enemy. Ho had divined their plan of action; he had succeeded in countering it by making the great tactical change which concentrated the British strength in the North Rea. When the war opens i the fleet at once commanded the see That was due to Fisher’s prescience That- the fleet- was not only in the right position, hut ready for its work was due to Fisher. That it was not a- - superior in every respect as it ought to have been to the enemy’s was duo to tile obstructive fatuity of the Ac! miralty system, which even the commanding, original, enterprising personality of Fisher was unable to dominate.

■But the great fact remains that he had reorganised the fleet; that he hnct led tho world with the quality of the ships; that he had revolutionised the system of the naval war with the dreadnought; that he had placed naval instruction and promotion on a splendid .basis; that ho had opened the way to merit by ruthless scrapping ol useless senior officers; that ne had vastly improved the gunnery of the fleet; mat, in snort, lie had made the Bntis i M avy the instrument of war, which was required to save the British Empire by tne securing of the efficiency of cue jditisn .fleet. How much more he could have done is proved by the loss of those battleships which he had fore, seed, lie had observed the superior high-angle German lire; ho.Jiad divined time it must pierce tlie nfter-deiences, ; he had forced a committee of experi- ' meat to devise the remdy; lie had failed ' to obtain the necessary means for tin:, , committee; and, as Sir Percy Scott su'd i in his memoirs, the result was made | known beyond doubt by the sensational ■ loss of the great cruisers in the battle 'of Jutland. To this result can bo added tide inferiority in some cardinal matters, which was the cause of- tho over-caution by which the battle of Jutland failed to end the war in a single act. [Nevertheless, the great fact stands prominent' that but for the or ■ionising power, vast energy and singular determination of Lord Fisher, th 3 Bjritisli Fleet 'would not have LLeu able to meet the German High Seas ’ Fleet at the outbreak of war with tile actual and overwhelming superiority it bringing to bear. Fisher is, therefore, entitled to the credit of having saved the British Empire in the. Ore-it War.

Tin: settlement of matters in connection with the Peace Treaty has been engaging f;he heads of the Allied nations during the last few days, which culminated in the Spa Conference where they met the German representatives in conference. The attitude taken up by the German del gates was' taken exception to, and the cables have told us that the Allied representatives have been forced to place the German '■ their places in the straightest of plain, speaking. The firm attitude taken l>v Hon. Lloyd George, as spokesman for the Allies, has won commendation in British and French circles. The German delegates apparently in a great game of bluff expresseod their total inability to supply, among other demands, the quantity of coal that ths Reparation Commission had declared it. was necessary for them to find f*Tithe Allies. Then followed a straight out refusal to comply with the request made. The Allies heads, after expres-, sing their determination to use force and if necessary' to occupy further German territory, made ready to carry out their threats, the Germans meanwhile waiting to see Ifow far their opponents were prepared to go. With their bluff apparently called, the German delegates, after an ultimatum had boen go't ready, for presentation by the Allies, hove apparently recognised tin': they can go no further in their opposition to the carrying out of the terms of the Treaty, for the present at any rate, and have agreed to supply the Allies demand for the supply of coal.

One of the leading members of th > present German delegation at Spa, re-ferred-to in the cable mesages, as the 1 pan behind the gun is Herr Hugo Sti fines. It is interesting to note that when the last mail left England, all Germany was asking what Hugo St in nos wa s aiming at. This apiaging personality, little known in Englaud :•* yet, is incomparably the most powerful force in Germany to-day. Still mi der fifty, gifted with unbounded ambition and inexhaustible energy, hard lucid, titanic . in conception, utterly fearless in execution. Hugo Stinnes, Germany’s richest man and leading industrial figure, is counterpart and direst descendant of the c-oM shrewd business men, such as Ballin, who, with the ex-Kaiser as their flamboyant fig itre-head, gyrating to their pulling of the wires, made Germany a big com mercinl factor in the world. In 1913 Hugo Stinnes, although well into his millions, was but tlieir disciple. Today he stands alone. Last week lie quietly bought up the printing firm which owns the Deutsche 'Allgeineine Zei’tung, th,e German Government organ, and thus whipped ft away from Government use. He proceeded to en gage General von Ludendnrff as Ins military expert. A little while ago lie acquired a South German paper* the Afunieh-Angsburg Gazette, n steady going reactionary organ. He has n pa per in Dortmund, in that Ruhr area where he is the inflexible dominating personality. He has just bought the big Buxenstein printing business bv quietly putting into it twenty million marks (nominally a, million pounds). That means control of a dozen other papers. He controls at this moment gjj Government printing in “Germany. Note that this widespread and rapidly increasing newspaper hold on Germany is reactionary—not Republican. Significant in view of imminent and critv cal events—Spa, the Reichstag Flections, the choice of -a new President, j the German Republic in the balance. .

Enokmods industrial force lies behind Hugo Stinnos’s newspaper and political ambitions. He controls no fewer than fifteen groups of coal mines extending into France. He lias immense ore and metal interests in Germany and Luxem. burg; lie owns a score of large inland shopping concerns; he owns at least six big wholesale coal distribution enterprises. Ho has dwarfed Krnpp. The versality of this man’s interests is astonishing. For reasons of his own ho lias recently bought a huge cellulose concern, an hotel ,a textile factory, and an automobile business in Berlin! Out of the Deutsche All’gemeine Zeitung it is common knowledge that he proposes to make a world-newspaper such as “The Times.” Already ho is lavishing money upon his new project, which comes into existence on July Ist. His agents are hunting Germany for new young journalistic talent. Through innumerable trade journals, complacent to his authority, ’lie is establishing widespread foreign connections. His papers are to he self-supporting. He has bought paper and pulp mills and forest areas. Existing interests will supply him with metal. Everywhere—though, I think, with apprehension and dismay he :s hailed in Germany as the “Newspaper Kino.” This man. will have to ho reck-

ie<l with by Europe. At 20 he was j Bid capable of partnership in the fam. ; oil y firm of Matthias Stinnes. He broke C< ivay ,“went on Ins own,” and, now, ell before the war, laid swung with f c Bvastating energy into b'l'b finance. Ho d ; the business genius of Germany at a lament when business genius is wli.m ■ermany most sorely needs. It is said o! m dm that “no price for a sound tiling, q nd no salary to a good man is too high ~ or Hugo Stinnes.” Such is the opinon won by the man who has been tnkng the leading part in the German a lelegation at Spa in the present nego- 1 nations. , P fun news of the result of the first race For the America Cup, a win for the g diallonger, Shamrock TV, is somewha ( : poilt by the fact that the defender, the ( Resolute, had to withdraw from the contest owing to damage to her gear, at * a time when the Shamrock was in the lend. It is to he noted that on the f time allowance made owing to differences in size, that the Shamrock has to allow tier opponent over six minutes. The contest ranges over three races ' of which the second is set down for to- ; day, and the third race for Tuesday 1 next, so that the question of actual < supremacy should soon be settled. It is good news to learn that the Sham- 1 rock even before the race was giving . every satisfaction to its sailing master, so that there is every prospect of that true sportsman, Sir Thomas Linton, being enabled to secure a. victory, a victory that would he recognised as well deserved throughout the sporting world. The history of Sir Thomas Lipton s present challenge for tile America. Cup is interesting.- As far back as 190 i Sii Thomas asked the New A ork A aclit Club to accept a challenge under the America nor Universal Rule of Yacht Measurement instead of the rule which had governed previous contests for the cup, and which had produced freak racers of a very unwholesome type. The holders of the cup, however, declined to entertain the proposal, and a similar fate befell a second proposal in 1912. Sir Thomas then offered to challenge with a boat smaller than the full-sized 90-footer, which is allowed under the old rule. The New York Committee took up the attitude that if S' l ' Thomas challenged with a 75-footer they would be at liberty to defend the cup with a boat of 90ft. waterline length on equal terms—that is, that the larger boat would not he called upon to make any time allowance to the smaller craft. This attitude of the New York authorities was of course absurd, but it served the purpose of postponing another contest for the cup for the time being. Not to be beaten, after sundry proposals bad been made Sir Thomas ultimately issued a challenge for a race with a 90-footer under the old conditions of measurement. And then a strange thing happened. The New York Yacht Club suddenly agreed to the race being sailed between 70-footers built under the uni. vcrsal Rule, thus conceding the point which bad been a bone of contention for nearly seven years. Tiie result was that the Shamrock IV. was built at Gosport in 1914 to designs by Mr Charles E. Nicholson, the most enterprising of British designers. She was on her way ocress the Atlantic, convoyed by Sir Thomas Lipton’s s.y. Erin —since sunk on war service—when war broke out, and at Sir Thomas's request the race was postponed indefinitely. The tale was taken up again when the armistice was signed, and Sir Thomas asked for the contest to take place last year. The Americans, however, were of opinion that it was too soon after the war, and tiie next move was a new challenge from Sir Thomas Lipton for a. contest in 1920, in which the first race should be sailed not later than the first week in June. This question of the date for the first race —subsequent races takes place every alternate day—was one of the points in dispute. The New York Club maintained that it was far too early for the American season, as many of their members would not have their era fitted out so early in the year.