THE KIEL SCANDALS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9674, 23 December 1909, Page 3

THE KIEL SCANDALS.

It is not surprising that the revelations at the trial of the Kiel dock--3 ard officials caused a sensation in Germany. They would cause one anywhere. One of the defendants declared that purchasers cf surplus n.iVal stores at Kiel had enjoyed great advantages in consequence of "the colossal red-tapeisna at the dock- } ard,. and methods of business that were so naive as to be hardly conceivable." In fixing prices the Selling Committee refferred to the Superintendent of Stores, and he, in turn, asked the opinion of the contractors themselves. The contractors formed a ring, which fixed the rates of tender. If, for instance, a minimum of 85s were fixed for a certain article, it 'would be arranged that one firm would offer 86b» and all the others less. Some of the stories are very reminiscent of war stores incidents in the gouth African war. Cast-off canvas was bought for 3d a pound which, after washing, was soid back tp't&e naval authorities for 2s lOd a pound for use as cleaning material. Raw hemp which was sold for £3 103 fetched The dockyard regularly sold fpr a halfpenny a pound old iron worth Is. Bronze and brass were flung on the same scrapheap, though one was worth twice aa much as the other, and it was declared that inspectors were employed who did 'not know the difference between cast-iron and brass. Chain worth 14s a centner was sold for 4s" 6d„ and steel tubes worth 15s a ton for 6s. The buyer of these tubes was overcome with emotion when he spoke of them, and the Court roared when he declared that "it made one/s heart rejoice in one's body to think of them." Uther material, this man said, he had bought for £3l6s and soid for £SO. A Berlin correspondent remarked that the German taxpayer, ever called upon to bear heavier burdens, would "grind his teeth with rage at the incompetence, indifference, negligence, and extravagance with which his hard earned money has been squandered."