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Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1919, Page 12

The popular belief that the mines which were 4o profusely laid off the New Zealand coasts by the German raider were of a type intended to float on the surface of the water, and thus bring merchantmen to their destruction, is refuted by Mr Duncan F. Bauchop, a New Zealander who .recently returned from England, where lie occupied during the war a position as adviser to the Admiralty on the subject of submarine mining. "There is no such thing as a floating mine," said Mr Bauchop. "It would be.too ridiculous a thing, for it would be seen on the surface and avoided." Mr Bauchop went on to explain that the mines washed up on the beaches along the coast were of the moored-mine type, but they had broken away from their anchorage. The British mine of the same variety, in accordance with the terms of' The Hague Convention, is only effective so long as it is moored, and as soon as it breaks adrift it becomes harmless. It was only another instance of the consistency of the German in breaking compacts, said Mr Bauchop, that in laying his mines he ensured that they should break loose and still retain their destructive power.