THE SITUATION IN ENGLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 214, 17 February 1915, Page 6

THE SITUATION IN ENGLAND.

I, .. VIEWS'OF A LONDON BUSINESS ;.:■' <! [ . MAN. . . NAVAL MATTERS. ,'" I AMERICA'S' ATTITUDE CRITICISED. | The accompanying extracts from the i Utter Jdater,July 5) of the L<%dpn re " , prcselitativc of a leading' New Zealand I business house, to his principals'in the ' Dominio,, will be read, with interest:— I "The i/ituatic'n here, is a diliieuii one 'to sum up, ' Reinforcing drafts coni tinuoioße. sent to' the front to make j good fhe wastage, of war, and we do little, I more than hold our position. As the ! spring, approaches the m-Wjy formed army ,wil| probably be sufficiently trained to put into the fighting line, and prebab'.y I not till, then will any solid •effort, be /made by the Anglo-French Army to | driye the Germans across their frontiers.. Meanwhile.the naval situation remains little changed. At Christinas J had a very interesting letter from a young I naval officer serving with the North j Sea fleet; , The concensus of opinion 'in the fleet is that the policy of the Ge;'I m Si naval commander is. by recourse to I raids and such like tactics, seeking to I Stimulate a cry in this country for some change of policy, on the part of ;cur Adj rairalty, leadng to a dispersion of our j fighting' force R»i thus give the German .fleet a chance cf coming out and.beating Ins in detail. .This .would be sheer j folly, and Admiral'Jenicdc will'not. I think, be diverted from a sound,policy at the bid of a few scaremongers. Ills I purpose, is clear—to contain the .Rnrnvaii i fleet in Kiel waters, and if it "ventures' to come out to fall upon it with over>whelming force' and destr.oy it, an'.'. whilst preventing or cutting' off occasional raiders ...not to be perturbed -f, under cover of" fog. they do slip through and do some coast damage: tlie like is incidental, 1 and the loss (if a few score livos' is nothing as weighed against tire general situation to be dealt with. Far too much outcry was made ever the Hartlepool-Scarborough raid, and it is much to be deplored that Churchill is t-o prone, to rush' into print with somieinoticnal letters. • War is war., and we know iirwillbe ruthless, and it, is well to pursue our ends with a dignified silence, and-a settled purpose, which is to overcome the fighting forces of the enemy on sea or land. Probably more raids will be attempted; they are incidental and h.-ive no influence on the main issue if the. country j will but keep cool and trust our navy to do. its duty. It is no child's plav to steam at speed with all lights out in the darkness of a'North Sea night—a sea strewn with mines and ' other dangers, and the strain on a commander is enough without the outcry of a sensational pressj, ' *

"From the ''Falkland Island T had' an interesting letter from the Secretary «'-f the. Governor." Craddock, it..would'appear, had applied for a heavier ship, but i .'.he Admiralty refused, and he knew when he put-to sea that he was goiiig to hi;i death. The Herman fleet had hoped to seize the Palklamls to coal am-' destroy the wireless. Women and children were.all .sent inland; the archives of. . the Governor's oflicc were buried, Hie' there Was an exciting interval until it was known that Sturdeo had won ii,e race and destroyed ihe German fleet bar one vessel. • "' • "M'Kcnna, Home Secretary, Ims behaved wry 1, a ,1!y ,_,,-«.,• the spy question, I showing no vigour or initiative. It has hee„ perfectly well known that spies were thick on the East Coast., and that sygnals were exchanged with tile Hartlepool raiders and the land: now a military order has come out that all Germans naturalised, or otherwise, are to be sent 3" miles inland. Even this is not enough. ■•Just now the President of the United States of America is protesting over our disturbance with their trade. For ymvs America has allowed Mexico right on their boundary line to remain in a slate of anarchy, and has allowed American ( and British subjects to be murdered and trade destroyed, and lias done nothing ell'ective to compel order or exact reparation for injuries, and under'the «acvd shadow of the Monroe doctrine 'he' is unwilling or unable to accomplish himself. Has 'President Wilson not "\)t the political grasp to understand that? if the Germans wo„ now. Monroe doctrines or any other doctrines human or divine would not. -..strain them from trcatiim Monroe doctrines with s,cant consideration in their policy'of world dominui inn If he wants to do anything practical let him say to Germany {lint if (hev sou nines outside their territorial .waters flicv will make it a casus belli t,„l |„. had not the political pluck t ; , "d,, v,y. cud this whine of his is ur-voriin- ,1 his nation. ' • "You refer to the supreme n .■;■(! of our adding to the fighiini' force 'end ritditlv so. but the fact is that we'have already more men mobilised than instructors can be found for, and even el'ieers coming home on short leave are being employed to drill men. Still, there are a good many able-bodied loafers about who cannot be touched except by compulsion. The contempt of their fellows does not ageet them."