NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15822, 20 January 1915, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

UNDER - GUNNED SHIPS

Probably the Monmouth and her sisters were the. most expensive ships in relation to their size which were ever built to the order of the British Navy. On a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons they mounted 14 6in guns, while the Good Hope carried 16 of these weapons. The incident illustrates in unhappy colours the weakness of the British fleet in powerful cruisers of modern types, of good speed, and heavy armament, remarks a service journal. During the latter years of the nineteenth century a large number of cruising ships of fairly heavy displacement were built: but. unfortunately, practically all of them were under-gunned. It was not until Sir Philip Watts went to the Admiralty that wo began to obtain vessels of a character which would have been able to put up a good fight against the very powerful squadron which Admiral Spec concentrated under his nag. The type of ship which could Lave effectively dealt with the German force would have been, of course, the battle-cruiser. We have only four of these vessels outside the North Sea. Three- of these arc apparently in the Mediterranean, co-operating with the French fleet, and the fourth is under the Australian flag. THE NAVY AND PRIZE-MONEY. It is part- of the same process by which the navy secures the property of the country, that it «should also capture the property of the enemy, thereby serving to shorten a bloody and a disastrous war by means the most humane. From time immemorial the navy has been entitled to a reward for these services in the shape of prize-money. One of the first anions of the Government upon the outbreak of war was to abolish prize-money. It is true that the shares were often very unequally distributed as between officers and men; but contrary to the argument put

forward by the Government, that circumstance provides neither reason nor excuse for abolishing the system altogether. It merely indicates that the system needed reorganising. It, however, the authorities prefer to introduce the same system under another name, calling it " bounties," there is no particular objection. The objection is that alter saying they would introduce the new system, the Government have not introduced it. It is surely impossible that any evasion of the obligation ran be contemplated. The value of the vessels condemned by the Prize Court is known and registered : and the greater part of that value is the property of the officers and men of the Royal Navy. Already many vessels have been condemned, but there has been no record or suggestion that the allocation has been made as the process continues. In the public view, the sailors to whom the security of the country is entirely due. are being defrauded of what the Government have stated is their right: and it Is not an agreeable thought, says the Morning Post. Nor will the public put up with any more insolent talk about the immorality of asking the seamen to fight in order to gain prize-money. That particular brand of cant is out of date. AX IRRATIONAL RATIONALIST. German scientists, poets, philosophers, and artists of all kinds ; in fact, the whole of the country's intellectual elite, have shown that they profess to believe their Fatherland to have been forced into war by unscrupulous enemies, but we are rather surprised to find the famous Haeckel among the false prophets. The conditions which he declares " necessary to ensure Germany's future" are grandiose enough to satisfy the most ardent PanGerman. It is a melancholy termination to a long and honoured career. No living writer has brought scientific teaching more within the province of the masses, and no work of its kind has enjoyed a greater vogue in our times than his "Riddle of the Universe." That so great a rationalist should be found ready to talk of the necessity of freeing Germany " from the tyranny of England" is a striking sign of the mental confusion on the war prevailing in the German Empire.