ON THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 May 1916, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

\ THE GRAND FLEET. IMPRESSES MR. HUGHES. £ A MIGHTY INSTRUMENT. • . London, May t. Mr. W. M. Hughes was deeply im- , pressed by his visit to the fleet. Interviewed, be said that he had seen the mightiest instrument of power ever %Mjioned by man stretching away to thefrfar horizon in numbers seemingly endless. He bad seen the invulnerable navy behind whose ample cover the Empire had rested since ;he outbreak W the war, and still rested in perfect Ucurity. He had spoken to the men into whose hands the Empire had entrusted the care of this embodiment of its power, this bulwark of its safety. s''l am content," he said, "and satisfied that these are the men who will not fail us. Ihey realise that upon them rests'ihe safety not only of Britjfr and the Empire, but of civilisation. 'They are quietly confident, because the pulses of youth leap in their veins. In them is the moral force springing from the tnoet glorious traditions. In them lives "the spirit which lied Drake and , Kelson td victory. .We may bend every energy to the prosecution of the war with the certain assurance that Britain's command of the seas is safe in their bands.''

"' T " .BALTIC ICE BROKE*. v ',-. X ~ London, May 1. ;■•■ The Ke ta \\iii Baltic has broken and traffic between Sweden and Finland has sJtoen resumed. Much of the shipping is *

GERMAN SUBMARINE BASES,

. ON SPANISH COAST. Paris, May 1. /The Journal states that Germany is equipping wireless, stations on the coast adjacent to Barcelona. There are daily proofs that submarines are revictualled and provided with fuel in the vicinity. In one instance a commander landed and dined with the Consul-General. IjWenty-Tour hours later two British snips were sunk in the vicinity. The captain refused to tow the crew shoreward, explaining that he was waiting to sink two other British ships.

FRENCH STEAMER'S ESCAPE. New York, May 1. ' flue French passenger steamer iPatria, arriving from Naples, reports that she escaped by ten. feet a submarine torpedo in the Mediterranean.

BRITISH STEAMER SUNK, London, May I. Lloyds report that the British steam«r City of Lucknow has been sunk.