THE TIGER.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 January 1916, Page 2

THE TIGER.

GERMAN PRESS NOTIONS. London, November 25. "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still,'' and it is a mere waste of effort for us to try to convince the Germans that the good ship H.M.B. Tiger is not at the bottom of the North Sea. We only succeed in making them angry. The fact that representatives of leading newspapers appearing in Allied and neutral countries were inivted to visit and inspect the British Grand Fleet, and have borne witness to the fact that they were entertained on board the Tiger, has apparently irritated the German Admiralty b'.'.'ond measure. Admiral von Tirpitz assured the German nation that the Tiger was "all sunk beneath the waves" on the occasion of the North Sea action on January 24, and nothing that we can say or do, and nothing that any neutral journalist may write, will convince the Germans that the real H.M.S. Tiger is afloat to-day. If, say the German papers, foreign journalists were entertained on a ship called the Tigc" on the occasion of their visit ta the British Fleet, then it was not the Tiger which took part in the North Sea engagement, but some other warship which the British Admiralty had the "effrontery" to pass off as such upon the unsuspecting neutrals. Only one German paper apparently can even allow itself to harbor a suspicion that the Tiger of the neutral journalists' tales might possibly be the Simon Pure after all. That paper is the Kolnische Zcitimg, and it advances the theory that perhaps the British Admiralty is really telling the truth, when it insists tha't the Tiger was not sunk, and advances an explanation. It suggests that the vessel sunk by the Germans may not have been the Tiger, and that it was the New Zealand, which it describes as "a cruiser of the same class." The New Zealand, observes the Kolnische Zeitung, lias not been mentioned since, the engagement, and it considers that its view is supported by the fact that the Russian journalist, when referring to the patriotism of the overseas dominions, manifested by gifts of battleships, spoke of the cruiser Australia only.

Tho Kolnisclie Zeitung has been incited by a remark made by this same Russian correspondent about the sobriety that prevails 'on board the British naval vessels to pour a torrent of invective over the officers and men of the British Navy. It endeavors finally to counteract the impression made on the world by the reports published by .the foreign journalists, its main suggestion being that the British officers who entertained, the latter contrived that they should have too' much to drink!

I-suppose the fact that sailors wearing caps bearing the words "H.M.S. New Zealand" have been seen in "London recently would be an additional proof to the (-ierman paper that the. Tiger had been lost, or alternately that the Tiger of the foreign journalists' tales was really the New Zealand rechristened. It should be easy to persuade the Kolnisclie Zeitung of anything where our Navy is concerned. The notion, for instance, that the New Zealand and the Tiger are of the same class, and that the former could, be "palmed" off upon representatives of leading neutral newspapers a? the latter, is deliriously funny. The Tiger is a ship of 28,000 tone, and is (iOO feet long, whereas the New Zealand is a 19,000-tonne.r, 555 feet long. The Tiger carries eight 13.5 in guns as main armament, and the New Zealand eight 12in. Moreover, the Tiger is in appearance quite unlike any other British battlecruiser, for she has three equal-sized funnels and only one mast.