SUBMARINE CRISIS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1730, 26 June 1917, Page 3

SUBMARINE CRISIS.

SIR JOSEPH WARD'S VIEWS

Sir Joseph Ward, in a press interview, referring to the submarine crisis, said; — “As it lias been described to me by practical men, the new German submarine appears to be a wonderful piece of mechanism. There are loud tirades against the Admiralty and the Navy on the part of people who arc ignorant of the actual position, hut I can fissure you there lias been no negligence or indifference. The plain fact is that the new German submarine has created a. puzzle calling for the concentrated wisdom of the greatest scientists of llie Allies to circumvent it. It can sight its intended prey through the periscope at a distance of live miles or more, fit which range, of course, oven the periscope is very difficult to detect from a ship. The submarine then sinks below the surface, find proceeds under water for a distance of a couple of miles or so towards its prey. The torpedo is discharged without oven the periscope appearing, the direction of the target having been fixed at the livemile distance. The U-boats can, in tact, operate quite out of sight. It is a most powerful menace and presents :iu entirely new problem to our experts. “The sinking of the British find neutral tonnage in the new submarine campaign Ims been phenomenal. At (lie same time, despite the new difficulties of combating (.hem, quite a lot of submarines have been sent lo the bottom. I have, of course, a good, deal of information that cannot he disclosed, but I am warranted in saying definitely that the Germans Imve been building a greater number of new submarines weekly than they Imve lost. Undoubtedly, the real peril fit the moment iies in that direction, and thisknowledge has accentuated the great efforts that fire being made in the British Isles to increase and preserve the food supply, more especially wheat, so as to protect the people from starvation during (he next three months. By (hat time they will be reaping they harvest, not only from their normal acreage, but from the vast new acreages I have referred to. “I feel confident that the people of Great Britain will not reach tho point of starving, but nevertheless, within a few weeks there is hound to he a further limitation in the eonsumpliou of certain articles, until the point of safety has been readied.”