ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 44, 3 November 1904, Page 17

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

SUBSCRIBER (New Plymouth). -We have no information regarding the matter beyond what appeared in the public Vress. E F -We have endeavored, as far as possible, to exclude'the class of advertisements you refer to from nr °". r pases. At Ihe same time we are not always in a position to know the worth of articles advertised, and our readers must exercise their own judgment in such matters.

sides in the matter. The British fishermen had been cruelly and wantonly attacked, and not the slightest provocation had been given. There really seemed to be nothing to arbitrate about, and it would appear as if all that England had to do was to frame her claims, get, her guns in order, and call upon Russia to ' stand and deliver.' And yet, at a time when popular feeling in both countries was roused to its highest pitch, even tins case was reterrcd to vie high court of the nations nistcad of being settled by the bloody arbitrament o f war. There is, of course, no legal compulsion on nations to submit their differences of opinion to the Hague Tnbunal, but tile high moral obligation which has always existed since the Court was set up has been vastly increased by the splendid example of these two great Powers in the Dogger Bank affair.

Incidentally, the episode throws an interesting sidelight on the extent and reality of the immunity which England is supposed to enjoy from all dangcir of attack or invasion by any foreign enemy. Here was the case of a body of fishermen, on a well-known fishing bank, outside a populous poit, shelled by a foreign fleet for half an hour without bringing a single man of war to the scene or attracting the notice of even a passing vessel. A well-known writer, Mr. 11. Blatchford, editor of the l Clarion,' has been publishing lately a notable series ot articles on the question, Can England be invaded ? and the recent happening certainly tends to confirm the emphatic affirmative with which he answers the question It is an open secret that Germany has been long and carefully preparing for an invasion of the English coast There is practically no concealment about it The German Press, G-eunan military writers-, and German statesmen in their speeches, do not lea\e the matter in the slightest doubt ; and after the Dogger Bank business it is evident that a German fleet could do much damage and effect a landing with scarcely any serious opposition if they only took reasonable precautions in their choice of time and place. And if that is the condition of things with regard to the English coast where they have a Channel squadron, a Mediterranean squadron, and a Home squadron to look after them, what; is to be said for our prospect of safety or security in these distant Southern seas ?