CRISIS SERIOUS BERESFORD SAYS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14190, 6 January 1917, Page 8

CRISIS SERIOUS BERESFORD SAYS.

— — t***^i ' . . ADMIRAL. IN 'THE HOUSE 'OF LORDS DISetISSES GERMAN,-, SUBMARINE AOTIWTY. LONDON, November 16. The destruction of British shipping by German submarines came up ; in the House of Lords yesterday .afternoon, when Baron Sydenham invited the Ooyernment to make a declaration in the nature of a "ton for ton" policy for Great Britain and her Allies, Ss a reprisal, and to the monstrous proceed-,-ings. of the German submaannes. Jie that' there was. an uneasy fe'el;ing .'ini.-/the countiy that' the' 1 submarine mena'^ei was "mp're" serioii§ .than; the 9U.thorities were willing to admit.*' ■ \ Admiral Berasford said that Great I^Britain •■ hpd arrived at a serious., crisis, \ calling 'for .dnergy and foresight; ;lt ,wa3 time, 'lib said, for plain speaking, "because the House of Commons and the newspapers had been muzzled, by 'the ; jnost autocratic" Government 7since the time of . Pharoah. ; "Had the blockade . been properly enforced .from the first^" 'he asserted, "we should not have been faced by /this submarine crisis." . ' '' j The Marq_uis of Crewe,. .Lord-Presi-,deiit;'ofythe., Council, replying. /for the -Government, said it was' useless -'.to ' make xleolarations as Tiords Sydehham and rßeresfprd, demanded, without .ppwea* : to "enforce theni. The; only voices which jcculd speak with influence now were tha voices of the- tiarmob on the various ironts. - *' .'.'■ ; 1 "It is useless," said the Marquis of Crewe," to threaten.. to exact •particular Reparation ' ih ''the'-*;. terms of;, peace unless we are able to impose those -terms ; by obtaining complete: .victory." s , The i. Earl' of Lytton, .Civil Lord of the jAdmiralty, liaving denied .tlmt the fleet had departed from its traditional policy of seeking out and destroyhig tiie enemy, the subject was dropped. ! The Times, commenting to-day on the submarine discussion in tlio fiouse ot %ords, endorses*, Baron iSydenham'A re'ference to publio iineksiness over the / ; - • j. "Confidence of tho .nation- in the navy; and its commanders is bouridleiss," says; the Times, "but it does not extend, Without . .qualification ,to the , Board, of . Admiralty. "The new German submarine campaign, baa . been an. obvious and growing menace for a considerable' period, and '.the country is by; no .means-. satisfied-. 'that the' Admiralty: has be^n aiiye to it."