Topics of the Day.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 72, 23 March 1912, Page 13

Topics of the Day.

#-_—_———_—_ (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, January 9. GERMAN JUSTICE. The severe sentence passed by the German Court on the alleged British spy, Mr. Bertrand Stewart, has been received iv England with •nrprise mingled with—to put it very mildly— deep indignation. What accentuates the average Englishman's emotions ia the knowledge that whiLst the Germaa spy in this country convicted on tke clearest evidence in open court has been treated with the utmost leniency and mercy, in Germany the guilty and those whose culpability is open to the gravest doubts have been treated with the utmost severity the law allows. Qu:te apart from the severity of the sentence of Mr. Stewart, there is what is to English minds the appalling fact that, so far as is known, the only evidence upon which he was convicted \va? that of a Belgian agent provocateur whose antecedents were such that a_y counsel would hesitate to place him in the witness box for fear of damaging his client's case. He is described as a thoroughpaced blackguard who has been convicted of a catalogue of offences, including robbery, assault, embezzlement, and forgery It may also be pointed out, so far as we are permitted to know about the trial of Mr. .Stewart, he was only accused of seeking to gain information a* to the readiness of the German fleet for war. As a matter of fact, the German High Seas fleet- is, according to their own naval authorities, ready for the real thing at any moment, and, unless our own naval authorities are wrong, the German fleet was at the time of the July crisis cruising in far northern waters," and that the' British fleet at Cromarty was seeking to find touch _ with the Kaiser's ships in case of accident.-. This was, indeed, the crux of the crisis. The information that Mr. Stewart could have obtained alon" the line of inquiry he is alleged to°have travelled would have been ' stale bread, indeed, to the British Admiralty, and concerning some of the things he is said to have been inquisitive about, he could have obtained information from the Germen press itself. There is, of 'course, nothing to say against the punishment of a' detected spy. Esp, o nage is a form of offence whici every country has a right to punish according to its own laws and the interpretation of them. But the contrast between the punishment meted out to Mr. Stewart. Messrs. Trench and Krandon. and Max Schultz by the German courts-, and that indicted -upon Philip Schultz and Lieut. Helm by the English judge after trial in open courtis startling-

Lieut. Helm pleaded guilty to beins outeide certain fortresses at Portsmout) for the purpose of wrongfully obtainins information and to making certain sket cues and plans in September, lie wai discharged on undertaking not to repea; the offence. Phil Max Sehultz, said to be cx-oih-cer in a German regiment? was fount guilty of espionage at Plymouth and sen fenced at Exeter Assizes on Novembe; 4th, 1911, to 21 months' iniprisonmcuin the second division. Sehultz, ill Apr't last hired a houseboat on the Rive: Yelm and during his five months' staj incited Mr. Duff and Mr. Tarran, oi Plymouth, to procure for him information in regard to the navy. It was provethat he received large sums of money from an agent in Germany, and the cods by which he communicated with his employers was discovered and deciphered, Lieut. Brandon' and Capt. Trend? were each sr/ntenced at Leipsig in Decembr. 1910, to four years' imprisonment if a. fortress. Lieut. Brandon was arrested at Borkum in August, and (Nipt. Trend; at Emden on the following day. It war. proved tbat they had in their possession photographs and documents dealing with the North Sea fortifications. Max Sehultz, a Southampton shipbroker, sentenced at Leipsig in Decernbei last to 7 years' imprisonment. ' He was alleged to have caused several dockyard employees at Weser to betray iniporl. ant plans. •„ ■ . . _:. . ,-, , 'S -"-fij---IS OUR NAVY A BROKEN REED. The publication of Lord Charles Bere-* ford's long-expected book, "The Be* traval," will spread a very uneasy feelin- amon* those who wish to think that al" is well with the Navy and have been -sleeping peacefully" on the strength oi the assurance given by Sir John Fishet that the first line of defence is above reproach. Have we really been living in a fool's paradise ? If the reading ot the recent naval policy adopted by. Lord Charles Bercsford is correct we have. So serious, indeed, are the act—•> ations he brings forward that, even ot his authority, one would hesitate to believe that they are nothing more or les« than the bitter truth —unless the defence put forward fails to refute 'his charges. Lord Charles Beresford may, of course, be a mere alarmist, as some of hi 3 detractors are wont to declare; but io "The Betayal" he makes some very definite statements and raises issues that must be fully answered in Parliament And the sooner the better. His book, which purports to be a record of facts containing "Naval Policy and Administration from the Year 190s to the Present Time," was suddenly withheld from publication last autumn, and the reason for Us suspension ot that occasion is now stated to be tlif the existence of a crisis in which the Navy was found unprepared. "In the result the First Lord of the Admiralty was removed, the Board oi Admiralty was reconstituted, and the formation of a War Staff was announced, tnd in view of the nature of these events it was decided to suspend the publication of this book during their progress." In his summary Lord Charles state? that his facts cannot be denied, and asks: "What is the conclusion to bo [drawn from them? I venture to affirm j that there is only one conclusion posJ sible. It is that the naval policy of tha I years 1902 to 1909 was mistaken in I every important particular. From the J bpginning the great body of naval opinI ion held that the new policy was wrong, J that it endangered the security of tha '. country and of the Empire, and that the 'expense of repairing the disastrous effects of a series of rash, violent, and unnecessary experiments would be immense. Several officers, upon -whom feli the disagreeable but inevitable necessity of expressing to the authorities, in response to official request, views adverse to the policy of t_. Admiralty, have been placed on half-pay and kept without employment, or their Service careers have been summarily terminated. .Among them three officers would have 'been ruined by the authorities for daring t_ tell the truth when, at the request of the authorities themselves, they gave evidence with regard to certain mattei'3( had it not been that public opinion intervened in time to save them from being hunted out of the Service." These officers, says Lord Charles, wera right; the Navy was right; and the authorities were wrong. Since the end of the period of alleged maladministration, Lord Charles admits that an honest attempt lias been made to remedy the evils; but they have, he declares, gone too deep to be cured by palliatives or half-measures. The first steps towards restoration must be t_ ascertain and understand the full extent of the mischance to be repaired. In hi* view : "First in importance there falls to bs considered the. education and training of officers, upon whom tho whole efficiency of the Fleet depends. The schema of 1902, altered in 1904, is proving utterly impracticable. If the Fleet is not to be left gravely deficient in marina and engineer officers, measures must at once be taken to remedy the fatal defects of the existing system. "The force of 6'hips required is tha next consideration. I have of my own persona] knowledge, acquired in commanding fleets in various parts of the globe, affirmed that the Fleet is gravely deficient in small cruisers and destroyers. Nor can tbe Fleet act effectively so long as the grave deficiencies in coiil reserve, in stores, in docks, are not mado up. The lack of proper provision of these items is common knowledge throughout the Navy. "The present condition of the trade routes is a national danger, hi 1903 there were (10 small cruisers placed on foreign stations. To-day there are 23 In the interval an event has occurred of the gravest moment to the country. Privateering, abolished b;* the Declaration of Paris of ISSO, has in effect been insidiously revived by the Peace Conference of 1907. There is only one method of securing the safety of the roads of tbe sea—to station cruisers there on patrol duty. We have, however, thrown away the ships formerly used for that purpose, and a new force is only now beginning slowly to be'created. "The coaling and repairing stations overseas, which served as naval bases for ships ot war on passages and for the cruiser patrols, have been'dismantled and their stores have been sold.'' And here is the conclusion of the whole matter, .according to Sir diaries : "We do not possess a proper org.tni- ' sation for war;* the collective responsibility of the Board of Admiralty lias been in practice abolished; and' until ,we have a War Staff rightly constituted to organise the Fleet for war, our excellent officers, our skilled crews, and our , fine ships are liable to be sacrificed in ! the imost bitter of all sacrifices, that by | which nothing is gained; while—what is ■of less moment—our money may all be | spent in vain." /