LATE CABLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLV, Issue 13452, 14 May 1918, Page 3

LATE CABLES.

[By Kukthuo TnjNMun-CofYUMnr.] I'bb P&bm Association. STRIKE AT JOHANNESBURG. (Australian and N.Z. Cable A«m.) Received May 14, at 2.20 p.m. Capetown, May 18. A strike has occurred at Johannesburg owing to tho Town Council refusing to concede the demand of the engineers in the municipal employ for £8 3» as a weekly wage. The light and tram services wore interrupted, and the city was in partial darkness. A largo number of people ai-c unemployed. Subsequently the strikers consented to keep the light and water supplies at normal. The suburbanites are compelled to walk to the city as the result of the stoppage of the trams and carriages. Large quantities of meat in cold storage wero affected.

THE WEST FRONT.

(A and N.Z. Cable Assn. and Router.) Received May 14, at 2.25 p.m. London, May 13 (4.40 p.m.) A French communique reports: There is mutual artillery activity at some jx)iiits north and south of tho Avre. Our detachments oenetratod the Gorman lines north of Momeny.

AN AUSTRIAN ATTACK.

(A. and N.Z. Cable Assn. and Router.) Received May 14, at 2.26 p.m. London, May 13. An Italian official report says:— Alter an intense bombardment tho enemy attacked our new positions at Mod to Carno, hut was driven back with heavy losses.

IN SIBERIA. (Router's Telegram s.) Received May 14, at 2.26 p.m. I/ondon, May 18. A Harbin correspondent states that General SeminofT has issued' a communique that he has restored tho bridge, on tho Omsk River, which ho crossed, and occupied Adrianoff. Ho- continue* to meet with popular sympathy. General Seminoff has issued a proclamation assuring tho Trans-Baikal people that his Government is not oountor-i-oYolu-tionary, but intend-vl to restoro lawful freedom. Many Russian Bcldiona from Siberia have joined General Seminoff. They state that the situation in Russia u becoming favorable for such movement* owing to the general discontent with tho Bolsheviks' despotism.

AMERICAN NEWS. (Australian and N.Z. Cablo Aesn.) Received May 14, at 3.10 p.m. Washington, May 13. Tho War Department lias naked Congress for a six billion dollars heavy ordnanco appropriation, not including the lift eon billions on the cetimatoa of last wcok. Regarding the suggestion that Amorican troops should not bo iioed at prosent, Lord Heading has made- n statonicnt that ho doubts the accuracy of the announcement attributed to the British Cabinet.

HUN NAVAL SECRETS. Tlic popular belief that Germany's shipbuilding activity during the war lias been limited to the output of submarines wu never shared by those who were familiar with her great shipyard resources, and it is now disproved by tho publication of authentic details of several large men-of-u.ir which have been commissioned in the la A year or two (writes Mr B. C. Bywater in the "Pall Mnll Gazette"). Germany has now at sea a division of battleships as powerful a.s the Queen Elizabeth class, to which, indeed, they bear a close resemblance. They are of 26,000 tons, and carry an armament of eight 16in gun-, but their speed does-nut exceed twenty-three knots. The completion of these ships brings the estimated strength of the German Dreadnought licet up to twenty-one units, though it is probable that, three of the number have been lost, either at Jutland or through British submarine attacks. Two battle-cruisers are known to have been completed since the war, ho that six or seven such vessels are now in the North Sea. If the most liberal estimate of German war losses is accepted, it will be found that the enemy's battle lleet is still very formidable, including as it does not less than twenty-five all-hig-gun ships, besides a score of older but tairly effective ironclads. .V strenuous effort appears to have been made to replace the light cruisers which were sunk m large numbers in the first few months of tho war. About twenty new cruisers are now in service or completing, and others are believed to be under construction. It is interesting to (mil an F.mden, Karlsruhe, Konigaberg, and Nurnberg in the list, all commemorating ships lost, in the war. The new Kniden and her sisters arc much more powerful than their predecessors, being 5400 tons in displacement, with a speed of twenty-eight knots, and cany ton 100poundur quick-firing guns. In addition, the Germans have evolved a novel type of light cruiser which may aptly be described as a "flying minelayer." The first four representatives of this class are named liremse, Brummer, liumrncj, and Wcspe, and it is stated that others are building. They displace only 4000 tons, but have a speed oi thirty-five knots and carry a powerful armament of guns. The special feature, howover, is a magazine holding 4fJO mines, together with gear for dropping them very rapidly. Apparently the function of the Bremso is to dash at high speed across the course of a hostile lleet, dropping mines as she goes ; but the type would 1)0 equally useful for planting minefields in certain areas where the ordinary minelayers cannot penetrate. The very high speed of the new class, combined with their powerful battery, suggests that they may also be used lor raiding convoys in the North .Sea. At all events, they appear to be dangerous customers, more formidable in every way thin tho cruisers we had to deal with earlier in the war.

It is not possible to ascertain with any accuracy the exact number o£ submarine boats now in existence, but the total* publimbed in Germany arc known to bo grossly exaggerated. All tho leading shipy.uds, however, have taken to submarine construction on a large scale, while many otber linns assist by building standardised parts. Small submarine* are even built in inland towns, whence they are delivered to seaports by canal or railed there in sections and put together very quickly. In June of last year from 180 to 200 .submarines were known to be in commission, of which about half were large sea-poing vessels', (lie remainder being of the coastal type. These latter, it is affirmed, can l>c built'and assembled from standardised parts in three weeks or a month, but the workmanship ib very poor, and a few have foundered on their first voyage. "Germany can certainly build 100 to ISO boats of all types per annum, if not more, crews being provided by large shore establishments ana training squadrons of. assorted submarines operating in the Baltic."

The largest German submarine! can travel a distance of 5000 miles, and are able to dive almost instantly. On the surface their speed of eighteen knota enables them to overhaul all but the very fastest merchant ships, while below water their electro-motors drive them at eleven knots, which is considerably in excess of the ordinary "tramp" steamer. They are so strongly built that they can submerge to a great depth in order to escape attack by gunfire or depth charge. The crew have roomy living quarters, with plenty of space on deck to take exercise, and there is a very ingenious and effective system of ventilation through the canningtower. A powerful wireless outfit is carried on oil the newer boot*, enabling them to receive and send messages up to a great distance. For attacking merchant ahips they use a special short-range torpedo, containing 4201b of T.N.T. Most of them are also fitted for dropping mines, and an idea of the size of the modern German submarine is conveyed by the fact that the mines they carry weigh no leu than lGcwt each.