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Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 162, 14 August 1914, Page 6

The reassuring statement issued by the Admiralty regarding trade in the Atlantic is evidence that the Navy has been doing its duty, although very little has been forthcoming about the way it went about it. There are five German warships still at large, but the force which has been dispatched to hunt them down is so sxiperior that it is only a matter of time before they will be compelled to disarm in a neutral port, fight, or surrender. Under these circumstances trade in the Atlantic will speedily resume its norma* course to the great relief of the mercantile community. The position in the Pacific is equally safe. The number of the enemy's ships is small, and their radius of action is limited by their difficulty in getting coal. The British vessels in the Par East, the Australian Navy, and the cruisers on the New Zealand coast afford a reasonable margin of protection, and even if we lose a ship or two, before the enemy's vessels are satisfactorily accounted for, the result will not be very serious. Nor is there any reason to worry very much about the suggestion that some of the German merchantmen, which left Australia hurriedly on the outbreak of the war, may by this time be converted into commerce destroyers. They would also experience the coaling difficulty, and it is more probable that they have taken refuge in the Dutch East Indies, where, as long as Holland remains neutral, tßey can lie in safety.