A GRACEFUL AND WHOLEHEARTED TRIBUTE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 8 June 1916, Page 7

A GRACEFUL AND WHOLEHEARTED TRIBUTE.

TONE OF THE FIRST NAVAL NEWS .3IR BALFOUR EXPLAINS ITS PUB- , LICATION. I ■ i fIX CABLE—PEJiSS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT ' /Received June 8, 2.30 p.m.) j LONDON, June 7. j tf> Replying to the toast of the imperial , -?Javy at a Chamber of Conjmerce luncheon, Mr Balfour continued: "When war threatened and it suddenly became that Britain, in order to carry j out obligations imposed by treaties, friendship and honor, must face the greatest military powers, the eyes of the British people instinctively turned to ' Xord Ktcherier. Perhaps the greatest ; triumph he has left is the successful : creation of vast military machinery which was absolutely non-existent in ! 1914, but is now prepared for its share of the military labors of the Allies, i Lord Kitchener's loss is not merely na- , [ tional, but international. The ordinary jsarty 'politician is barely more than a -name in foreign and neutral countries, ; but Lord Kitchener's gift and personality made him known in countries which' : Jiad not seen him, and lie embodied in ■ the eyes of our Allies the military force of the Empire. We mourn for oiwselves but let us not mourn for him; he died as ' I think he would have wished at the height of his fame and working for the i country." Turning to the toast Mr Balfour said ' the attention of the'civilised world had ' been concentrated upon the event in the North Sea. Admiral Jellieoe's de- ; -spatah could not yet have been 'received, as the work of collating from inriumerable sources the relative facts necessary j for compilation of the despatch would have occupied the t>je of a man less heavily burdened than Admiral Jelli- , coe, and until the despatch became available he would not encourage discussion of details, neither would he. quarrel with the Gem.an. newspapers which estimated the comparative losses. There were no doubts tnat we had told the truth and had not concealed our losses, and. it was equally certain that falsification began on tue German side hours before the Admiralty had received the first Jellicoe message. He had just seen k. a Gorman wireless to New York claiming the loss of another British battleship, which had been safely in port ■^ since Thursday. It would be futile to ' discuss the situation when the testimony on one side was so obviously tainted. Mr Balfour admitted himself entirely responsible for the method of is- , -suing the news. Admiral Jellieoe's i first telegram, received at four on Wednesday aiternoon, intimated that action was imminent, as the fleets had mutually sighted each other, but the Admiralty had not received a further^ Jellicoe telegram until Friday after-. noon, and had immediately communicated it to the newspapers. Admiral JeJlicoe was not blameworthy. Such were his tremendous responsibilities that the strain was not relaxed for two nights, thirty-six hours after the fleet bad driven the Germans to port, j "The information was obviously incomplete, but was all Admiral Jellicoe could furnish. Undoubtedly fuller facts would have given a better impression, but he (Mr Balfour) con--ceived it right to let the public know the best and worst. The Germans were near their base, and immediately' sent wireless messages over the wide ■world, regardless of truth. ■ Admiral Jellieoe's second telegram on Friday at midnight showed that more ships had returned, and gave fuller details of the German losses, and in view of that telegram it was considered that the newspapers had conveyed an unnecessary shock of alarm. He (Mr Balfour) was sorriest for the fleet, which had returned bitterly disappointed at not having caught the whole German fleet during the opportunity for inflicting a crushing defeat. They were, nevertheless, conscio^ they had played their part magnificently, and expected a congratulatory, net a tragic, reception. |