LAWS OF NAVAL WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 135, 8 June 1911, Page 5

LAWS OF NAVAL WAR.

BRITAIN AND THE DECLARATION. WOULD IT BE KEPT 7 t s r BERLIN, June 7. „ The "Kre_; Zeitung." commenting on q the approval of tbe Imperial Conference t of the Declaration of London, doubts a whether in war time the British under ] another Government would stricily ad- t here to codiGed laws'of naval warfare. The "Zeitung" declares that Sir Edward ( Grey's recent statement regarding the supremacy of the fleet is scarcely in har- f mony with the new code, anddescribes as ; equally questionable Lord Morley's state- j ment, made in the. House of Lords on March 8. that the Admiralty believed that the effect of the Declaration on the conduct of naval war would be slight, and quotes others, especially Britain's claim to blockade the North S*ea in wartime. The paper argues that with the changing of party government, such an inten- ' tion might "be fulfilled, and sea Powers must reckon on the possibility of the Bri--1 tish naval law being hereafter as hitherto. . Britain's present willingness to make concessions for the protection of neutral weaker States is an indication, the "Zeij tung" thinks, that in view of possible '. coalitions, she regards the establishment I of international rules for naval warfare as useful in her own interests.