STILL A MYSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 54, 5 March 1926, Page 7

STILL A MYSTERY.

EARL KITCHENER'S DEATH. DEMAND FOR FRESH INQUIRY. ADMIRALTY AGAIN REFUSES. (By Cable.—Press Association.—CopyrlgatJ LONDON, March 4. In the House of Commons, Mr. E. Pcrymgeour, Independent member for Dundee, asked if the Admiralty would arrange for an inquiry to be held into the loss of the warship Hampshire in June, 1916, with the late Earl Kitchener aboard. He said 200 people were ready to give evidence. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. W. C. Bridgeman, replied that he was not aware of the existence of fresh evidence or of material facts which would .justify an inquiry. The Admiralty was perfectly satisfied las to the cause of the disaster, said Mr. I Bridgeman. He was opposed to any I inquiry, as a result of which someone | might perhaps be able to make charges against other people.— (A. and N.Z.) On more than one occasion it has been suggested that the real circumstances of Earl Kitchener's death were different from those put forward in the official I version, but each side in the controversy has maintained an air of mystery which renders it impossible for the public to come to any clear conclusion on the matter. In a statement made on December 22 last, tho First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr. W. C. Brielgeman) denieel tbat the intended sailing of the Hampshire on June 5, 1016, was an open secret, declaring that she had been selected for this purpose only ten days before, and that her course had been laid off only at the last moment. There was no evidence that she maele any signals after having | struck the mine which sank her. It was untrue that the Admiralty had held back papers which threw light on the disaster and the statement that spies had been found on the cruiser and shot was a ridiculous and wicked fabrication. "The Admiralty have no doubt whatever," concluded the First Lord, "that the Hampshire struck a Oerman mine laid by the U75, a mine-laying submarine, which had been sent out to watch the Orkneys and to lay mines in preparation for the German naval sortie which resulted in the Battle of Jutland. The dispatch of submarines to various points is mentioned in Admiral Scheer's Jutland report, anel his 'Plan No. 2' published with the Blue Book relating to the Battle of Jutland shows the track of the | ITS to anel from this very area between May 26 anel June 1, 1016. Fifteen mines of a type evidently lairl by a German submarine were swept up in the vicinity as soon as the weather made sweeping possible, and the information as to mine- - 11 lavinsr furnished by Germany at the end ;i of the war to facilitate the work of mine-clearance,' as well as the German Official History of the war at sea, confirm the fact that they laid these mines." ———_______-____