DOMINION NAVIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16276, 8 January 1915, Page 5

DOMINION NAVIES

THE EMDEN'S DESTRUCTION. WORLD-WIDE RELIEF. (FIOM OUB OWM COBBtSPONDMT.) LONDON, November 13. From all parts ol Uie Empire, as well a* from America and other natione which have an overseas trade, there came . a feeling of deep satisfaction at the news of the destruction of the Emden. The- question of the Sydney and of dominion navies is raised by Mr .Richard Jebb, who writes to the Morning Post: " Tbe, message of the l"'iret Lord ot the Admiralty —" Warmest congratulations on the brilliant, entry of the Australian Navy into the war / —may be rather m.sleadmg to the general public. The Australian Navy entered int>> the war at the beginning, not the other day. ' When war was declared by the King all hie dominions became belligerent, 'lne only question was whether the Australian Navy would act independently or under the orders of the senior Admiralty, lhat was settled the day before by the offer of the Australian Government to transfer its navif forces for the period of the war, and tha, requisite Order-in-<Jouncil was promulgated a lew days later. The Australian Navy has ' been active all along. We already know , ;' that it helped to convoy the expeditious''? against Samoa and New Guinea; that it') destroyed German wireless stations in this.' Pacific, and has baeii busy hunting the commerce raiders. New Zcalandeis believe that only fear of the battle-cruiser Australia deterred the Scharnhorst and Gneieenau from bombarding their ports. By no Englishman can the part played by the Australian Navy be more heartily appreciated than by those few who for years have tried to uphold the dominions in the policy of creating navies of their own—with which the Australians have so splendidly persevered—against the persistent official and unofficial attempts to substitute a system of contributions to & centralised navy. Ten years ago I wrote : on the last page of 'fctudiee in Colonial Nationalism': "In the day of Armageddon '.■"; their ships shall range with ours.' Little .; did I then imagine how soon, or how strikingly, that prophecy would be fulfilled." -HE NEWS IN INDIA. The news was received in Indian shipping circles with boundless satisfaction, and gave a much-needed fillip to trade. A tendency to overlook the fact that the Emden's raids have been ruinous for Indian porta, in view of th? sportsmanlike behaviour cf Captain von Muller, had a rude shock in Calcutta when eye-witnesses of the sinking of the Russian cruiser Jemchug, at Penang, ar- ; rived and narrated the fact that the Emden approached that port, and reolied to tha Russian cruiser's challenge with* " Yarmouth coming to anchorage." Before the officer of the watch could reply the Emden ewung her stern in towards the Jemchug and firecl.a torpedo, striking the Jemchug amidships' She then poured broadsides into the Jem-t chug, which blew up with a deafening joar as the fire reached her magazines. Tha whole affair barely lasted 20 minutee. Thera ■was scarcely a single survive* o< the Jemchug. COALING COMMERCE RAIDERS. Le Temps (Paris) referring to the destruction of the Emden, remarks that it is the work carefully thought out and planned of a sailor who was utilising all the advantages put at his disposal by the science of naval warfare. In congratulating thai <' victor, however, homage must be rendered* to the defeated ceptain who had held the sea for three months, had accomplishecl'T much, and waged the most cruel form of : warfare, a warfare of destruction, vfith quite exceptional courtesy. He treated captured crews with politeness and rescued his adversaries when they were in danger. Thus ho saved the crew of the Mousquet after he had sunk her and landed them at < Sabang. Lo Temps draws special atfcention to the remarkable coaling system de*; vised by Germany for her commerce destroyers, and remarks that she put thi*J. system to a practical test on a large scaldl when she undertook the coaling and pco?'. visioning- of Rojdestvensky's fleet on its way. to Chinese waters during the Russo-Japan*'; ese war. . -.. DEPRESSION IN BERLIN. ' A private despatch from Berlin vj» Copenhagen says that the loss of the vessel caused deep depression in Berlin. The papers describe the enormous efforts made. ' by British, Russian, French, and Japanese ships to catch the little German cruiser,. and in fact people generally look upon the; Emden's chief as the greatest | hero of war, who Das earned Germany's highestappreciation. Tho fact is mentioned with 1 pride that the British have always praised Captain von Muller for his bravery and' chivalry. , The Berlin Lokol Anzeiger points out tha difference in tonnage and armaments of the cruisers Sydney and Emden, continuing: "English export trade from Indift and Japanese import of rioe to India exist no more. The Emden alone ruled the waves. Now Britain has again her reign. ' Britain ? No. The united fleets of our adversaries, the French' of Pondicherry, Russians from Vlac'iivostock, Australians and. Japanese, all wore telegraphed together, and only they all together succeeded in giving back to Britain her apparent reigj£ over the oceans." [':,, The Deutscho Tages Zeitung says: "Tha ? loss is painful, not so much for the loss o#"* the ship itself, but especially because the war against British trade in Indian waters can no longer be continued. The name of tho Emden will be forgotten neither by us nor by our adversaries." The Cologne Gazette says that all patriots must feel a bitter pain at the cruiser's fate. The writer finds some consolation in the fact that the Emden brought terror and fear Into English hearts. " The day we lost the Emden was a black day for us, the more so as the life of another cruiser, the Konigeberg, has been cut short. In England they will be iubilant, and will breathe more* freely. "Iwo of the Uhlans of the sea put hors d© combat on one day is beyond the dreams even of Englishmen."