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Otago Daily Times, Issue 16288, 22 January 1915, Page 4

THE GERMAN AERIAL VISITATION. Tiie aerial raid upon the Norlolk coast would seem to possess on the face of things no particular significance further than as an illustration of a spectacular kind of skill and daring upon the part of German aviators, and of the tactics of desperation and worse to which the enemy is looking for opportunities to resort. No doubt the weather conditions contributed largely to the success, such as it was, of .the operations. There seems to be a certain conflict of opinion on the point whether the hostile aircraft were Zeppelins or aeroplanes. It seems unlikely that there could be much doubt as to the identity of such huge machines as dirigibles if these were Teally on the scene, but perhaps the exact identification of the bomb-droppers is not very material, although we shall expect to hear later that it has been definitely settled. What seems quite apparent is that the damage inflicted by the raiders amounts to nothing as an achievement upon which the Germans may congratulate themselves. They have killed or injured a few civilians and destroyed a few houses. If such tactics are inspired by the belief that they will instil panic or have a moral effect advantageous to the enemy the inspiration is indeed built on thin air. The episode will merely harden the temper of the British nation and its determination to exact full payment for German outrages. For the bomb-dropping at Yarmouth and neighbouring towns is no better than an outrage. As an episode of legitimate warfare it is beyond the pale, like the bombardment of undefended Scarborough. Yet we learn that the German people are hugely delighted with the results of their aviators' enterprise, and no doubt the airmen themselves will be regarded as worthy to receive iron crosses. War always is bitterly cruel, but usually there are limits to its cruelties when it is waged by civilised nations. It is no part of civilised warfare to drop bombs upon unprotected towns and to kill their civil inhabitants. Here we have unfortunately only another piece of testimony to the fact that Germany is not content to wage "civilised warfare," but is prepared, presumably under the impression that it is to her advantage to do so, to illustrate the frightfulness of war in any and every way which she deems desirable. The leading New York journals were loud in their condemnation of the deeds of those whom Mr Churchill called "the Scarborough baby-killers." It is not surprising to observe that they are again stirred to protest against these raids on undefended places. The New York Times asks, pertinently enough, if this latest exploit is "the madness of despair." We may suppose that the passionate and persistently baffled desire on the paTt of the German military authorities to strike England somewhere at any cost is at the back of such an/- inglorious act as the bombdropping in Norfolk. The possibility that more attempts at similar raids must be expected is by no means remote. It is surely a good omen, however, that so many months of war have already elapsed without the people of the Old Country having any more serious experience of the menace of hostile aircraft than has so far come their way.