VIEWS OF A NAVAL OFFICES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXII, Issue 88, 22 April 1898, Page 2

VIEWS OF A NAVAL OFFICES.

THE SUPREMACY OF AMERICA. THE DANGER OF PRIVATEERING. AUCKLAND, This Day, Captain Browne, of H.MS. Tauranga, speaking to a speoial reporter, Baid he coincided with Admiral Pearson's views. He had no doubt of the ultimate issue of the war. Amerioa must triumph over Spaiq because of her greater resources and

i- iMin ii ii ■ n it. iTTnnT *iir' r energy; Regarding privateering, he con- i aiders that tbia ia one of Spain's greatest 1 helps, for Spanish commerce Is infinite- '< slmal, except in the Mediterranean i America's commerce on ihe high seas is td 'i Spain's as 100 to 1, Captain Browne hns '. no doubt Spain will send out very many privateers to harry American shipping 1 Amerioa was not ns likely to encourage I privateeriDg for tbo simple reason tbat i Spain had no oversea commerce. Captain Browne b?lieved lhat the Contral and South American Republics would i fit out numerous privateers, especially such countries as Brazil aud Chili, He thought privateers might do {damage to American shipping in the Pacific As for tbe Spanish ' fleet at the Philippines, he did not think American shipping need fear much from them. There were American warships on the Pacific coast and also on tho China station, and a vessel like H.M.S. Torch, now in Auckland harbour, oould blow the Spanish vessels at the Philippines out of the water. Captain Browne did not think England wou'd be invo'ved in the war, though, if privateers insis'ed on searching British vessels, there might be unpleasantness.

[In view of the threatened invasion of t Cuba, which wid be the seat of thn com- o ing war, the appended information should' t be of interest to those ivho are watching f the course of events : • Cuba, wnich was 1 discovered by Columbus, and first tound- s ed as_ a colony by Diego Velasquez iv t 1501, is an island over 900' miles in length i lying to the south of Florida. It ia about ' 120 miles from Havana, the capital of ' Cuba, to Key West, which* is the further- I most of a chain of small islands known 1 as the " Florida Keys." The eastern por- I tion of Cuba is veiy rugged and moun- < tainous, and hero it is that the insurgents have made their chief strongholds. * Sugar, cocoa, coffeo, bananas, and espe- i cially tobacco leaf, are the chief products ' of "Cuba, while rich depo6ts of iron ore and manganese aro found in the eastern end of the island. About 120 miles from Santiago, the principal port Dear the south-east end of Cuba, lios Jamaica, and Btill nearer is the Eepublic of Haiti, in an easterly direction. Due east of Haiti, within ono day's sail, lies Puerto Rico, the most fertile of tho Spanish possessions, and also tho most healthy. The population of Cuba itself numbers about 1,000,000 persons. In the west the greater number are of purely Spanish origin, but in the east there are many Creoles, and also negroes, as well as persons of Spanish extraction. Anglo-American and German settlers have left their racial characteristics among tho population in the north of the island, while American Indians from Mexico are to be met with in the south-west. The language spoken is " patois "of Spanish. Key "West, to which tho Americans who "have left Cuba havo been taken, is a fortified port, the batteries mounting 200 guns. It is an important naval station, besides being a town in close trading relations with Cuba. In 1890 the population was 18,000.]