DANGER TO NEUTRALS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15918, 2 May 1912, Page 6

DANGER TO NEUTRALS.

The destruction of an American ship by a Turkish mine in tho Gulf of Smyrna is a very unfortunate incident that will increase the desire of tho Powers to restore peace in the Eastern Mediterranean. Tho Texas had a legal right to fly the American flag, though it appears that she was owned by a company which had its headquarters

at Smyrna and had secured registration in the United States as a protection against local racial antipathies. In time of war noutrul shins enter the area of actual operations at their own risk and they are expected to accept tho clmnco of contact with a floating mine or a stray torpedo. During tho progress of the Russo-Japanese war tho navigation of a considerablo part of the China Sea was attended hv danger and one or two neutral ships mot with a fate similar to that of tho Texas. Tho Italians and the Turks have brought the peril into European waters, however, and it is easy to believe that commercial interests will find the situation intolerable. Tho closing of the Dardanelles is a very serious matter in itself, hut tho disaster that is reported in tho cablegrams seoms to indicate that the Turks, intentionally or otherwise, have allowed mines to float on a route that is being used by steamships. Tho steel cylinders that represent a lurking death may actually bo loose, and in that case there would be nothing to prevent them finding their way into the highways of the Mediterranean. Mr Norman Angell says that tho anr tagonism of commerce to war is one of tho best assurances of peace, and the Turco-Italian struggle may provide him with a case in point. The Great Powers will regard a threat to their shipping as an" exceedingly potent reason for demanding tho termination of the present struggle.