PARALYSIS OF HAMBURG.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 748, 24 February 1915, Page 3

PARALYSIS OF HAMBURG.

"Hamburg is paralysed; it is like a city of the dead." This recent description of the town is a tribute to the Work of the British Fleet. The gateway of Germany is closed. Hundreds of ships are laid up at a treraendouß cost, the once busy wharves and docks are deserted. Thiß fact is quite sufficient to explain the bitter hatred of the Prussians for the English. Since August sth our submarines have held, and still hold, "the throat of the Elbe," and, if rumour be true, more than one daring commander in charge of these shark-like boats has ventured inside the mouth of the river to examine the anchorages and mine beds at Cuxhaven. . German energy, money and brains have pretty well succeeded in making it the Gateway of Europe. The foreign trade of Hamburg in 1851 was £26,455,000. In 1909 it had grown to £323,000,000. In addition to this, the rail and river-borne traffic with the interior had grown from £19,000,000 to £180,000,000 in the same period. In 1911 the city of Hamburg alone owned 1225 seagoing vessels, aggregating '1,604.000 tons, including the ships of the Hamburg-Amerika line, which possesses some of the largest ocean passenger ships. Latterly it had become the principal port of embarkation for eiuigrantß from the middle and the east of Europe. It iB already the third largest seaport in the world. Now this great port, the pride of the whole German people, is stifled and throttled by the silent fleet. Should the blockade continue for another six months, aa seems more thsn likely, the loss to Hamburg will he incalculable.

Germany Has plenty of goods to export, chiefly merchandise, and plenty of ships to load with, but she dare not send them out, for within forty-eight hours they would fall as prizes to the British scouts. Take, for instance, the Vaterland, now eating her head off in New York harbour. This ship cot nearly two millions, and even with a depleted crew it has been estimated that, including cost of maintenance, depreciation and interest upon capital, it is costing the owners of this ship £25,000 weekly. Hamburg was, for centuries, a free city in a free State, and it was a fatal day for her when, she entered the German confederation. How long will she endure the Prussian yoke"' To endure it much longer means financial ruin for this flourishing Beaport. Hamburg has nothing to gain and everything to lose by remaining within the Kaiser's Empire, and before long we need not be surprised to hear something more about the revival of the "Hanseatic League" and the "Free State of Hamburg." —Daily Chronicle.