ON THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1918, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

| SUBMARINES AND DEI STROYERS; GERMANS FEAR DESTROYERS. Received Feb. 22, 8.25 p.m. \ London, Feb. 21. Admiral Jellicoe, who was the guest of the Aldwycli Club, said the destroyers were the greatest antidote of the submarine piracy. We wer° short of destroyers at the outbreak of the war, having thought too much about dreadnoughts. The Germans fear our destroyers above anything else. People i m ust not wonder if enemy destroyers ' got past our patrols occasionally. If ! tliev came often and fought tip and run ; raids tliev would get caught, as in the Broke and .Swift incident. Die visibility of enemy destroyers might be represented by a pin point on a big map of the North Sea. "You do not. he said, '"hear of the visits we pav to German waters, Imt the Germans . know all about thein. There are no targets for our submarines. The enemy only comes out once a year, and it is a borino- business waiting' for our annual shot." _ believed that the navy had sunk •50 per cent, of the German submarines in the North Sea, Atlantic, and Arctic. SMALL ITALIAN LOSSES. Aus and N-Z. Cable Assoc. and Reuter. Received Feb. 22, 8 pm. London, Feb. 21. Italian shipping returns for the weekshow that two steamers were sunk. FRENCH SUFFER NO LOSSES. Am. and N Z. Cable Assoc. and Reuter. Received Feb. 22, 8 pm. London. Feb. 21. French shipping returns show that arrivals for the week were 919, departures STii. sinkings nil, unsuccessfully attacked three. FRANCE. GERMANS FOSTERING INSURRECTION. THE PLOT DISCOVEREDParis, Feb. 21. The Figaro states that an extensive "defeatist" organisation has been disco\ered at St. Etienne. A German wineseller, whjse customers were largely soldiers. has been arrested, and also his Spanish wife. The documents seized included a pass to the war zones. The Figaro adds that the avowed object of the organisation is to cause insurrections during tile German offensive. The St. Etienne wine marchant apparently had relations with other agents in diflerent regions. Hi-, pass was an unconditional safe conduct for a hawker and vehicle in any army zone. Documents showed that lie would have received a large sum if he had succeeded in a certain dangerous enterprise. Officials are now deciphering numerous cipher messages. DELEGATES TO LABOR CONFERENCE. Paris, Feb. 21. The Government is not obstructing the visit of delegates to the London inter-Allied Labor Conference- The delegates have received a mandate to favor returning the occupied colonics to their pre-war owners, also favoring an economic open door. The General Confederation of Labor demands a referendum in Alsace-Lor-raine under the guarantee of an international commission.