THE NAVAL WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17095, 18 February 1916, Page 7

THE NAVAL WAR.

ARMED MERCHANTMEN. UNITED STATES’ ATTITUDE. MR LANSING’S PROPOSALS DROPPED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright WASHINGTON, February 16. President Wilson and Cabinet have decided that the existing principles of international law regarding merchantmen must stand unless the Allies accept Mr Lansing’s recent proposals. The Department of State recognises that tho existing law cannot be changed without the consent of all Powers, but may instruct port authorities to refuse clearances unless ships aro armed purely for defensive purposes. It is expected that President Wilson will not press Congress to prevent Americans sailing in belligerents ships.

THE RIGHT TO ARM. AMERICA TO CONCEDE POINT. LONDON, February IG. Reuter’s Washington correspondent says that America concedes the Entente’s right to arm merchantmen defensively and will disapprove of any German intention to torpedo thorn.

ABOUT THE ARABIS, GERMAN ADMISSION. VESSEL WAS NOT A CRUISER. LONDON, February 16. A German wireless message now admits that the Arabia was not a cruiser, but a special vessel, constructed for mining and air defence services, with a crew of seventy-eight and a speed of 16 knots. This sudden conversion is amusing, as a. few hours earlier the wireless agency had been claiming that a second cruiser was torpedoed. The claim was based on the fact of the British Admiralty's admission that a mine-sweeper had been sunk.

The wireless message states that the surgeon and three of the Atahis s crow died after rescue, through the effects of their long immersion. (The German Admiralty, on February 11, claimed to have sunk “tho new British cruiser Arabia” on the Dogger Bank.)

A DANISH REPORT.

BRITISH CRUISERS IN ATLANTIC. LARGE FLEET IN NORTH SEA. LONDON, February IG. A Gorman wireless message, quoting the Danish newspaper “Politikeu,” states: —“A Norwegian ship met, during the woek, a large British fleet within the zone between tho Dogger Bank and the Norwegian coast, consisting chiefly of squadrons and light

ers. Norwegian vessels also mot British cruisers in the Atlantic, doubtless chasing the Moewe.”

IN THE ADRIATIC. ENEMY SUBMARINES SUNK. (Received February 17, 10.35 p.m.) PARIS, February 17. Marcel Lutin, in the “Echo do Paris, that there is every reason to believe that French ships in the Adriatic during tho past three days sank two enemy submarines and perhaps three.