HISTORY OF JUTLAND.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18141, 2 August 1924, Page 16

HISTORY OF JUTLAND.

i VISCOUNT JELLICOE AND ADMIRALTY ACCOUNT. (PRESS ASSOCIATION- TELEGRAM.} ■, WELLINGTON, August 1. In connexion with telegrams from London, which have been published i» the New Zealand Press this week, his Excellency Viscount Jellieoe was asked whether he would have any objection to stating the circumstances v.hich led to the Admiralty account of the Battle of Jutland being referred to him fo? comment. He replied that he had no objection, as the main facts were already known front statements made in the British Parliament. These facts were as follows: Shortly after the termination of ."the war requests were made in the British Parliament for the issue of an account of the Battle of Jutland. It was realised by the Admiralty tl.«.t some delay would necessarily be incurred in the production of so complete a publication as Sir Julian Corbett's "Official History of the War" (then being written by him with the assistance of naval officers) which, in one of its later ■volumes, was to include an account o"£ the Battle of Jutland. Under the' circumstances the Board of Admiralty in 1919 appointed a committee of officers, presided over by Captain Harper to draw up an account of this particular action. On returning to England in H.M.S. "New Zealand, early in ISSO, Lord Jellieoe was informed of this. Later lie heard that it was proposed by the Admiralty Naval Staff to make sonicalterations in this report, and on enquiring of the then- First Sea Lord as to the accuracy of this statement, Lord Jellieoe was asked by him to read the report, together with the proposed alterations. He demurred' to this, expressing the opinion that he was satisfied as to the competence, of an independent committee, as Captain Harper's, to produce a correct account, and considered it best in the interests of historical accuracy that the report should be published" without amendment by anv officer who served in the Jutland Battle; who, unless quoting from reports sent in at the time, could only speak of what came under his immediate observation, and whose memory otherwise of events at so great a distance of time might not be reliable. Lord Jellieoe, however, was pressed by the First Lord to read the report, lie did so with reluctance, and as a result objected to many of the proposed amendments and again expressed _ his original opinion as to the desirability of publishing this independent report unaltered. No decision on this point was arrived at before Lord Jellieoe left England for New Zealand, but the First Lord gave him an assurance that no alterations would be made in the original report without the proposed amendments being first referred to him. The Admiralty at a later date decided not to publish the Harper report, and in place of it the present account of the battle was drawn up undeT the aegis of the Naval Staff, the principal officers of that staff being officers who served in the battle-cruisers during the action. ,

This account has been twice sent to Lord Jellieoe for his comments. On: the first occasion he brought to the notice of the Admiralty numerous inaccuraci?s and mis-statements, both in the narrative aud the diagrams, which latter differed in many respects from the Harper diagrams. Many of the inaccuracies in the narrative were corrected at the Admiralty, and it was returned for further comments, with a request that these should be forwarded by cable. The Admiralty at the same time expressed thanks to Lord Jellieoe fot having drawn attention to the errors. The whole of these errors, however, were not corrected, and it was found to be impossible to comment fully on them by cable. Lord Jellieoe so informed the Admiralty in I>ecember, 1923, confining his cabled criticisms fo a few of the most important passages, and stating that full remarks on the remaining points could be sent by mail if the delay was permissible. This suggestion was not adopted, however, publication having now taken place, together, apparently, with his cabled comments and the Admiralty's remarks thereon, which have not as yet been communicated to Lord Jrtlicoe. 'The time taken in the production of the narrative at the Admiralty has resulted in its issue some months after Volume 111. of Sir Julian Corbett's "Official History," in which the Jutland Battle is described. The volume was published at the end of last year.