THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 April 1916, Page 5

THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

HIGH BARNACLE FLEET TO PULVfiftlSE BRITAIN. THREE EYES FOR ONE ON THE IDES OF MARCF According to tile most untrustworthy authority in the world, that of the German Press, the Kaiser's High Sea, and Much Barnacled Fleet is to leave its snug" quarters in the Kiel Canal and annihilate his enemies. It is not a mere matter of submarines, or even of super-submarines. The fleet itself is to challenge "J.J.," and put an end once for all to the blockade menace.

This momentous announcement'is attributed to tin! Lord High Barnacle, Admiral von Tivpitz himself, and "great activity," we are told, prevails at Brunsbuttel and Wilhelmshaven. It is an unlikelyistory, and savors of another attempt to pacify the agitators who are clamoring for some signs of activity on the part of those warships "for which they have paid so dearly. This hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that a definite date is mentioned —between March. 11 and March 15—which is the last indiscretion the Germans would be guilty of if there is truth in the report. But whether it is true or false, Admiral Jellicoe may be trusted to be ready for any emergency. AT OUR VITALS.

Two of the German papers,'the Hamburg Naehrichten and the Cologne Volkszcitting, enlarge on the report with great glee. The latter, which is a religious organ, says:— "We want to get at you, to get at your vitals, England; and we shall use against you the means that may be at hand, precisely as you deserve, and we do not intend" to exercise any misplaced consideration.

"It cannot be said that we shall be exercising the law of an eye for an eye. We are entitled to at least three eyes for every one the enemy deprived us of, considering the thousand and one meannesses beneath all contempt to which they lmve subjected us. "It is not we who have been cowardly and treacherous in our U boat war, as the English have been and still are in their efforts to starve us."

ENGLAND'S PAIN, HUN'S HOUR. The Hamburg Naclirichten gives reasons for this sudden spasm of activity on the part of the somnolent ships of the German fleet:—

"England's pain is Germany's hour. The English admit that what occasions them the greatest concern ju»t HOW is th» l&ck gi o&rgo «pa«e>

'., . i*' ■ ■ "In Australia, in Canada, and in Amen ica they have feverishly bought up incnse quantities of grain in the hop Aof being able to ship them at the earlieat posßiblo moment to the European ii* • land Empire. "That, the German Empire should tik* s . into account England's troubles tIM world ean hardly expect. The weakest • part of our grimmest enemy is her want 4 of cargo space, and foolish and suicidil indeed would- bo the fighter who failed /■ to take advantage of the spot that Ma ; x adversary has bared in the struggle, afid did not deal just there his most formid- ;* able blow. At this moment, therefore, i our arms shall be directed with 1 the whole of their force against England's > most vulnerable spot. t "The world has heard it from tjin . < mouth of the Imperial Chancellpr that 1 . ,• we will suffer no humiliation arid allSw no means and ju- '""capons to be denied us in the exercise of our defence. Tna hour has come for the most concentrated, most intensive assault on thiq leader of our foes. 1

"Our fleet shall see to it that tUtf 1 ■ hour does not pass unutilised." • ' LOOKING FOR A MOSF, There is yet another reason to hi > found. Certain critics of our naval administration, who know nearly as much about their subject as tho German v papers, have produced th? impression in I' Germany that all is not well with our • 1 Navy. The Vossische Zeltunz observe* that:— "The English nation is exceedingly dissatisfied with its Fleet. Following the enthusiastic praise with which, until quite recently, England's Press had spoken of the mighty deeds of the splendid Navy, a few aotltC- ■ : ing* articles, and, now the voices that call for a radical revolution in the Admiralty are growing louder and mor4 menacing every day. "Balfour and Jellicoe are demigodq no longer. In the show-windows in London, huge pouters appear, with the pio> ' tures of Lord Fisher over the inacrijpn > tiotj:' "Die only man who can win t*a war.' I . 1 "For ourselves, we, do not see that Lord Fisher, during his career at 'the Admiralty, gave very practical proof* of his ability. "The coui se of the war has how mistaken he was. It becomes, therefore,. Ihe more significant thas in « spite of .all he should onjoy such grtat - popularity, The fact is that the pco- ■ pie feel instinctively that aIV /s not • ;v well with' the Fleet; they see that the authorities are at sixes and sevens, that there is neither cohesion nor deter- " mination, and not knowing where to ' turn to find 'a Moses, they acclaim the old seadog of former days as their on)]} chance of salvation." ■ .. OUR TERRIFIED PEOPLE.. There are certain other English critics * who have inspired in Germany the belief >"• ,:t that terror and panic, instead of' Indlfif- ■. u, nation at the methods of the haby-iiur-defers, are responsible for the demand , J for ft more efficient system of. aejriaf de*' fence, yTo these alarmists the Bwlia •Post extends 'the glad hand";— - . ■'/ "The arguments used by the English' Prpsi to show how heroically, the nopu- , \ lation is affected by the Zeppelin TtuU - are not convincing. It is opposed to all the experiences of every war "that' the world has seen, and of this war in particular, that growing < meritß and an ever-increasing manaep in their very homes should strengthen ' the enthusiasm of a people for tinuance of a murdcrotis war. - 9'; "What is quite apparent, however, from the bitter strife that is,going on in England in regard to the Gown-' ment's measures for combatting the ,«t* ; tacks of Zeppelins, a strife that is t .y., coming more intense daily, is that BO " v - 4 effective means have a« yet been 1 .. $ . covered for dealing with these raidftt. 1 ' '.' 'i' ; THE GERMAN VISTA. "

In the spring the German fancy lights . ly turns once again to Calais and th* " great vista of sea power for Germimj;, Y. which its capture opens up.' The Uem este Naehrichten of Munich sayst—< , "The English axiom, "Not the Chan" ' nfel, but the Mease, is England's .east- '' ern frontier,' denOtea with a much grtater clearness that Any lengthy tion could do, to what end Belgium «ii supported, nay, perhaps ever! originally called into national being by England. ' "AVith the German advance on Ostendf ■ and Zeebrugge, however, a tremendous ' -i breach was made in the hundred-year- . ' old policy of the anti-Gerrhaff isolation ' i of England. Now that this important '* stone has been dislodged from its place, there remains to the English, as the tole */„. standing pillar of the long Chinese wall which was to have kept Central Europd ' from the world's seas, merely that em«)l ■{ piece of Belgium and that bigger ijiece'of .' xi French territory, the key of which in Calais. " r " *;• "When we read this fact, We see' at .. '• once what a tremendous service thd Belgian campaign has rendered us, what aft 'A immense l vhata it has opened out to of free and,untrammelled traffic on the" ocean, with all that tiiis implies. f At, j the same time, however, it alao-nhotft ill f • what a formidable task it in that itill . lies before us." • '' H .