EARLY WAR INCIDENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18460, 25 July 1923, Page 7

EARLY WAR INCIDENT.

HOW SUVA BLUFFED VON SPEE GOVERNOR'S CLEVER RUSE. DECEPTIVE WIRELESS MESSAGES. Incidents in connection with German :•;/•[/ activities in -the: South Seas, beforehand')'/'' during/'the. war, are related by/ a'/- f -ohtri-/'" butor, apparently, a /resident : of Fiji, ;to the journal of the Navy League. . JDe/scribing the operations of A Imiral- "Von | Spee's ; squadron—Gneisenau, iSfcharnhoriit, Nurnberg, / and . Dresden—he relates how Suva escaped' attack by the Germans. He says:— About the beginning /October, 1914, wireless reports began to come ; into Suva that the German ■ squadron was in the vicinity of Fiji. The little steamship, the; ■'': •-; John Williams,' belonging, to the London Missionary Society, which had a wireless % installation,' was just then on one of, her - island ; cruises. / She picked up the Ger-/ man calls and sent a ; warning., into the Suva station. , t -, • ' . Reports had come ; in, too, from some of /.'•'■••-?, the outlying parts of . the 'group" that the■:-;■ //;:,. . German • ships had been seen, and there seems to be but little doubt that ,a raid on,: /"/ / Suva/ was contemplated. For / some time /;;/ the inhabitants cf Suva/had lived/in: a * continual state ;of fear, as it /well ~.- : known that all our ships had passed' up north for operations in New Guinea, and / New • Britain,/, so /when this /-wireless' news came in there was a perfect -panic, and all- the women and children were sent . inland. / All : tho shipping in the place .also.;/-: / cleared out, and by means ;of ; one of the//' ~/ vessels / a splendid - bluff : was put ,by Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott, 'the Governor, /'.'",_ which ; undoubtedly / saved i Suva / the'-.; / insult of a German raid. • One of;the ships which left then';/ wan ■ the steamer Levuka. a large vessel which ■ traded between /Sydney and Fiji." She was fitted with wireless and i her captain' - was instructed to play the following ;. game:—Some hours after her departure /!, the Suva wireless sent forth this message, . " Australia, Australia, where are. yon 1 — German squadron reported dons, and ex- % pected in Suva at any ; hour now."lf Then// ; the Levuka; replied / giving '-.. a close lati-•'/. tude and longf.itude,' "Etere we are with ./ /the other ships the. squadron. ;Wifl be • with you by 9 a.m. to-mcrrow. Keep the enemy engaged until then." ;' The s Gpver- :, ; . nor " Very good, expect 3%i in time for/ breakfast to-morrow. ///:/;'/:: / It was a pure /. bit //of | bluff. /'"'At/ the -v.. /beginning'of the war ,'an old survey' ship, :/'-,;. | H.M.S. Lark, had been Retailed for th« . protection of Suva. She only mounted I oin. guns. These were landed, and some /' earth. works, and / the Fiji : defence corps was all the defence that Suva could : put / up. /The ; Australia, 'as you know,, was ■ then away up far to ,the north. But the bluff : was : effective, and Von Speo : : and his squadron did not appear. % ~/ On October 12 ; the Australian ;_ fleet,' accompanied by a s French war ship, arrived in Suva, and from that time forward there was,: always /a/strong.guard: there, ;■/ sometimes British, -".-•aoMfttim'Bs French, and sometimes 'Japanese. A ; ■■ private wletteri'fcwhich-;?I/; receivedsj dated October 13, said: "Last night wikslept in peace, the first quiet night for a long ;;///'-; time. At grey dawn daily have we : scanned the horizon' for 'the Gorman ; cruisers, and have expected /to; be; shelled ;:; at ■ any moment. £ Now; Suva is -to '-be'-' the >,-:'■; fleet base for some time/and we shall live once more withont fear." • • .'- ' • Without doubt the presence of .this powerful "'allied fleet at Suva' prevented the German squadron from making i any. further incursions westward, although v the ]! i (.s\ people of Auckland, N.2., also got a bad scare about this time. ; -: ; :-.-.