RUMOURED RESIGNATION OF VON TIRPITZ.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 65, 16 March 1916, Page 5

RUMOURED RESIGNATION OF YON TIRPITZ.

RESULT OF DISAGREEMENT WITH GERMAN GOVERNMENT.

(Received 12.30 p.m.)

WASHINGTON, March 15. It is rumoured Ticrc that yon Tirpitz has resigned from the command of the German fleet in consequence of disagreements with the German Government, chiefly with the Imperial Chancellor, Dr. yon Bethmann-HoUweg

For over sixteen years yon Tirpitz has been the leadin e soirit of <he German navy, which owes its strength largely to his untiring encr£v* Born t the provmcc of Brandenburg 65 years ago. h e entered the navy. and while tic Kaiser was looking round for someone to help him in his ambi io" 8 pro ect n building up a powerful fleet, he found in Tirpitz the man he wanted In 891 he became Chief of the Naval Staff at Kiol, and reorgan »od thil e stal" hshment from top to bottom. Five years later he command the squadron in wh.ch 1-nnc, Trenrr or :-rus E :a made hiq triumphal tour in Far-Eastorn waters. J,cxt year found him pract.eally First Lord of the Admiralty with a strone fleet under his command. \ arious naval laws p assP d by the" Reichstag since 1900 have emanated from Ins brain, and were carried by him triumphantly through the Reichstag. His great success, his organising talents, his complete devotion to the interests of the fleet, carried him high into the favour of his Imperial master, who conferred on him a patent of nobility with the title of Grand Admiral of the Fleet. In personal appearance yon Tirpitz can hardly be regarded as a typical saiU-r. Built on huge and rather clumsy lines with massive features, with a high, bald forehead, and long straggling forked beard, he resembles more the traditional German professor than the smart sailor man! Pressmen and others who have come into contact with tlic Grand Admiral either socially or as interviewers, unite in saying that with all his ambition for the success of hie naval plans, he cannot be in any sense regarded as nourishing hatred to England. His. children have been educated in" England, and on numerous occasions he has vieited the country in search of health and recreation. Some idea of the work which yon Tirpitz has done for the German navy may be gathered from the fact that the naval expendit,ure of Germany rose by steady stages from six millions sterling in 1898 to twenty-four millions in 1913. As a speaker, yon Tirpitz has never attempted eloquence. All his statements to the Reichstag have been marked by extreme lucidity, combined with a business-like brevity. Iron resoluteness would appear to be his dominating characteristic, and it may be sairl that he is the one Imperial Minister who has a will of his own. and who declines on every occasion to submit to his Imperial master. More than once during internal political crises he has been spoken of as a probable Chancellor. His oldest son. who is also a naval officer, was taken prisoner early in the war', and is interned in England.