GREAT BRITAIN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 165, 18 December 1914, Page 5

GREAT BRITAIN.

GERMAN FLEET ACTIVE, i ENGLISH COASTAL TOWNS BOMBARDED. Press Association.—Extraordinary. Welington, Yesterday. The Premier has received the following from the High Commissioner, under date London, December 16: The Germans shelled Scarborough and Hartlepool. British flotillas were engaged. The situation is developing. Whitby, Middlesbrough and Kcdcar were also bombarded by the Germans. A fortress at West Hartlepool engaged German war vessels. The enemy was iriven off. A small German vessel fired on Soarborough and Whitby. MEAGRE DETAILS. VERY SLIGHT DAMAGE. ENEMY ESCAPES IN MIST. London, December 16. Two cruisers bombarded Whitby. A lumber of houses and the Abbey were lartially destroyed. One person was uled and several injured.

Press Bureau states that the Gerwas were engaged by the fortress at i«-st Hartlepool and driven off. Huge ait-s were-made in several buildings nd the Town Hall was slightly damit Scarborough the wirehsa station is rtact. Many inhabitants of Scarortugh fled towards Hull. The bamirdment began at eight in the mornig. :It is reported that s-jvcral buildgs .were damaged. (he .Exchange Company reports that j;ir German cruisers participated in the ttack.

The iPrass Bureau says that iniporint German . movements arc taking

aee .in the North Sea. The Germans infbarded Scarborough and Hartlepool, or -flotillas were engaged at various lints.

St lis reported that eighteen persons ere killed at Scarborough. Thirty tells were thrown into Whi'by. Some ill three miles inland. The damage as .chiefly in the Meadowlield district. ezvilian has died of injuries.

Partismlars are meagre, as the miliry Authorities control the telegraphic mmuUications. About forty shells II in (Scarborough, ttie objectives apireßtTy .being the wireless station and e Town Hall. Two struck St. Marl's Church during a communion scree. He congregation remained calm. (The «nfi«;r steamed slowly past the wn. The bombardment of West Hartlepool is simultaneous with that of Scarrough, It lasted twenty-fine mines. A shell was fired at the gas>rks, but the result was unknown, iws of houses were destroyed and a unber of persons killed. The Press Association reports a naval gagement off Hartlepool. A destroyflotilla .encountered three German lisers eight miles from the coast. The Admiralty announces that a numr of the fastest German ships demonrated against Yorkshire. They rclined an hour, and when the patrolling nadron endeavoured to cut them olf, mt at full speed, and escaped in the st. The losses on both sides were all. HE WAR OFFICE REPORT. EVERE CIVILIAN CASAULTIES. BHT GERMAN SHIPS ENGAGED. Beceived 18, 7.40 p.m. London, December 17. [Tie War Office announces that two rraan battle-cruisers and armoured lisers commenced the bombardment of rtlepool at 8 a.m. [he land batteries replied and appar;ly hit and damaged the enemy. Fir- ; ceased at 8.50, and the enemy amed off. lone of our guns was touched. L shell fell in the Royal Engineers' >s, and several in the lines of the h Service Battalion of the Durham ht Infantry. Casualties among the Dps wer« seven killed and fourteen inded. Lome damage was caused to the town. 5 gasworks were fired. People

during the bombardment, especially at West Hartlepool, crowded the streets. Approximately twenty-two were killed and fifty wounded. Simultaneously a battle cruiser and an armoured cruiser fired fifty shots at Scarborough, causing considerable damage, and thirteen casualties. Two battle-cruisers at Whitby fired shots, damaging building. Two were in places where there was an entire absence of killed'and two wounded. The War Olfice adds: "At all three panic, the demeanour of the people being everything that could be desired." RAID NOT UNEXPECTED. THE GERMANS DEFIED. Received 17, 7.45 p.m. London, December 17. The Times, in a leader, says: "The possibility of a such raid was widely known, especially on the oast coast. We fully expect the Germans to come again, until they come once too often. They think they can frighten us, but we are not easily frightened. They might as well throw pabbles at the Rock of Gibraltar." THE NEWS IN AMERICA.. New York, December 10. Apparently the raid was made by two or three fast German cruisers, which dropped shells on towns within a fortymile stretch of coast and disappeared in the fog. Scarborough alone reports eighteen 'Jailed and a hundred .injured. BOMBARDING UNFORTIFIED TOWNS. December 10. Naval experts expressed surprise that the Germans were able to break through the British fleet and attack the English coast. They thought the Germans were simply endeavouring to create a scare and were not likely to accomplish any useful purpose. They pointed out that the Germans were disregarding the laws of warfare in bombarding unfosii;fied towns. DEALING JETS FROM THE MISTS. WAR ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN. *■ INNOCENTS SUFFER MOST. SEVERE DAMAGE DONE AT HARTLE POOL. Received 18, 12.15 a;m. London, December 17. The killed at Scarborough include several children and Mr. John HaTL an exalderman_. A postman was about to hand : a letter to a servant, when a shell exploded between them, killing both, A mother and daughter, fleeing from their house, were killed on the doorstep. I In another place a inotber and two children were killed. William Awry, Salvation Armv adjutant, was killed at Hartlepool. He leaves a widow and foe children. When the thunder of the guns was fitst heard at West Hartlepool, the inhabitants regarded it as gun-practice. Then they heard explosions in the direction of the railway station and shipyards, and saw the gasometers and timber yards on the water-front burst into flames. The weather was hazy, and nothing was visible except sudden jets of llame.° The forts came into action, and all the troops were paraded to prevent a possible landing. Shops and offices were emptied, and business was suspended. The waterworks were partly damaged, and several houses in the higher parts of the town are wrecked. Many people ran into the park. Several shells fell in their midst, but none were hurt. Residents at Blackball Rocks, five miles from West Hartlepool, saw the ships firing broadsides, turning and firing their opposite broadsides. It is reported that the warships displayed 'British signals, taken from friendly vessels, until they opened fire. In one family, the father, mother, and Bix children in Hartlepool were killed. In another case one child out of a family of four escaped. Several children proceeding to school were killed. A shell burst among a group of yojunteers, and killed seven.

WHAT HAPPENED AT WHITBY.

'NO SERIOUS DAMAGE. STIMULUS TO RECRUITING. Received 18, 12.35 a.m. London, December 17. Under cover of the haze, the warships approached within a mile of Whitby. The first shot lodged at Eastcliffc. Then they got the range, and rained shells on the town. It is estimated that 200 were fired. Many fell short, the lire being evidently directed at the coastguard buildings, which were slightly damaged, 'Windows were broken throughout the town, otherwise the damage is apparently not serious. Many precautions had been prearranged on the east coast. Gas was cut oil' at North Shields. The military guarded the post office. ! The news of the raid at many places, | both on the coast and inland, caused a marked spurt in recruiting. THE RAIDERS ENGAGED. FIGHIT WITT! COASTGUARD j FLOTILLA. i Received 19. 12.25 a.m. London, December 17. A wounded lieutenant and six men of a destroyer have been brought to hospital at South Shields. They stated that three German cruisers and four destroyers attacked the Tync flotilla. A shell exploded aboard the destroyer, and wounded others besides these seven. UNDEFENDED TOWNS SHELLED. A RIiCK.LE.SS CANNONADE. SOME OF THE OBJECTS OF THE RAID. RUTHLESS TACTICS. Received 17, 10.55 p.m. London, December 17. A couple of flashes, and ibe roar of big guns startled the people of Scarborough, who were mostly at breakfast iu the gaslight on an unusually dark morning. ; i ■.'••■», i.■•■■«.• | A light cruiser came close to the I store, hut the bigger vessel remained at ] a distance, tiring recklessly. The whole; seafront was sweu'u by a rapid sucees- I sicn of shells. Most damage was at J Castle Hill. The castle itself was dam-; aged. Shells struck the general hospital and the Royal Northern infirmary where there were wounded soldiers. None wire injured. The Town Hall and several churches were damaged. The western part suffered badly. Man}' houses were demolished. The guns were fired in threes. After 9. few seconds' pause, terrifying explosiens indicated where the shells had ledged. Three struck the Grand Hotel,» causing heavy damage. j

A wounded" resident who lias arrived i in London estimates that nearly a hun-. drtd houses were destroyed at -East Scarborough hut the population is generally .calm. The objects of the raid are io relieve the depression in. Germany and create a panic in England, in the hope of retarding reinforcements for the Continent. Another object, which is equally .futile, is to divert some warships, guarding the Norlji Sea, and therebyj enable would-be raiders to reach the trade Toutes, or contraband to enter ■ Germany. The Emden's fate and the result of, the Kalklands battle .were'great factors. The -newspapers recall Admiral Re-: 'iventlowVs recent statement fjhat /the Germans .must see clearly that in order tc light with success they must .fiarht ■ruthlessly, in the proper meaning of the word. ' THE NORTH SEA FLEET. j "CANNOT -BE .EVEUYWIIERE." NAVAL iPGLICY WILL NOT BE j 'GUANO-ED. J REPORTED SINKING OF THE :R AIDERS. :' deceived 17, 10.35 -p.m. London, December 17. When ilie British destroyers appeared J the enemy's bigger ships disUted from j the bombardment and retired. Some minor engagements were unpro- ' uuctive of decisive results, on «:ither side. Narratives show.that men, women and children were killed, -and others wound- i ed. Indignation was universally aroused by the attack, which in Ui j 'case of such undefended towns .as Wliit- ] by and Scarborough was a manifest vio- ' lation of tk- Hague -Convention, and the indignation js exceeded only ly sympathy with tlm Victims.of the'Uirbarie :«c«. It is generally agreed among experts ■that the bomtavdmmtt was out uf the control of the North fitea fleet, viiich cannot be ev.-rywhere. 'Moreover, the '•Meekade of the 'German coasts is nob a Close blockade, -s»s in olden wars. •The Admiralty points out that demonstrations of 'this character against unfortified towns and commercial pints are easy of accomplishment, pioyided ■thasfc a cwtain amount of risk is accepted, and are devoid of -miJitarv sia'nifioanee. They may cause loss of i ; b-. to civilians, kit must ; n no circumstances be allowed to modify the gen- j eral naval policy w'Kieh is being pur- j sued. An unofficial report eoiies from Blvt'h that all -the German raidinar vess -Is were sunk. A message from StocWou-Mi-Toes states fhat thirty were killed and sixtvfonr injured at Hartlepool. WAK RTSKS REDUCED. London. December 10. The censors diseovercd that prisoners at the Douglas internment camp were writing to Germany in invisible ink. One was sentence..! to two months' imprisonment. Lloyd's war risk charge to Australia and New eZaland is 255. MORE MICN WANTED. Times and Sydney Sun Services. I oLndon, December Ifi. The Times' military correi|>onileiit, disI cussing the duration of the war, says the time the war will last is to be measured by the energy we display in shortening it. Four moL'tbs after its outbreak we find ourselves with five men in England for every soldier a'; the front. Until we alter this proportion we ;annot prosecute the war as -'porously- as we should. No ooffeeless morning, no missed trains, no delay when Camp CofTee is at hand. Add boiling water, and you have a delicious coffee in a second—coffee tfesi Starts you hv tfj9 day.

.INTERCESSION SERVICE AT ST. PAUL'S. London, December 10. 1 1. Paul's Cathedral was -.•owded for the twenty-four hours' int.rcssion scr- .. e. Many soldiers and Belgians were present. VON DER GOLTZ RECALLED. Received 17, 5.45 p.m. London, December lb'. General Von der Goltz, 'lias been uncalled. He. re-appointed a number of cashiered Arab officers, and appointed Sekki Pasha commander iu Syria. A ROYAL PENEFAOTION. Received 17, 5.45 p.m. London, December 10. Ex-Queen Alexandra, with Princess Victoria, visited the Rcigate Hospital. Queen Alexandra presented every wounded soldier with a £1 note and j.utograpU photograph of herself. THE GERMAIN? MISTAKE. AND THEIR GREAT AMBITION. I Received 17, 5.4.1 p.m. ! London, December 17. Speaking at the Royal Colonial Institute, Lord Grey stated that a Ger- [ man had informed him that ileep at the bottom of every German's heart was the opinion that Grca.l( Britain was rotten through and through, sunk in sordid *sloi,li and sensuality, and the desire to capture the Empire which j Great Britain was not stroiie enough to hold. I ) ONE EFFECT OF THE WAR. KAISER CEMENTS OUR EMPIRE. SPEECH BY EARL OF MEATH. Received 17, 5.45 p.m. London, December 10. The Earl of Meath, the great imperalist, who was responsible for the inauguration of Empire Day, lecturing on the training of new armies, pointed out that the cooperation of the different races in the British Empire upon the battlefield will strengthen the respect and love wbio'ii unile all portions of the. Empire When) the/ war is ovarj these men, trained on the same system and filled with flic same patriotism, fighting together in Europe, Egypt, China and the Pacific Islands, will return impressed with Ihc unanimity of the Imperial feeling existing among subjects of all races and all colors. The Empire will probably owe the full accomplishment of its s Imperial destiny to the Kaiser's envious, malevolent, and deep-laid pjor, '