NAVAL COMMISSION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14840, 18 February 1919, Page 6

NAVAL COMMISSION.

BACK FROM HUN NAVAL BASES. WARSHIPS CARRY BRITISH FLAG THBOUGH KIEL CANAL. LONDON, Dec. 28.— Bearing an Allied commission, which inspected German naval bases and airship and seaplane stations under the terms of the armistice, the British battleship Hercules has returned to her home port. During a trip fraught with peril, many German ports ■were visited and preliminary arrangements for the surrender of German warships were made. A dramatic episode of the voyage was the passage of the Kiel Canal on December 18th, accompanied by the British destroyers Verdun and viceroy. The Hercules gave the Germans along the banks of the canal their first sight of the British flag since 1914, when light British cruisers passed through. .'Germans who watched the ships were, for the most part, indifferently curious, but not infrequently woman and! children waved their hands at ;the sailors. TTheer c was not the slightest response ffom the ships. • : DISCIPLINE VERY LOW. Discipline on board the German war. ships is very low, according to officers of the Hercules. They found, on the first enemy ships boarded, that the sailors were lounging about and the ships were m bad condition as a result of neglect. This was m direct violation of the terms of the armistice, and drastic action was taken by the inspecting officer. He notified the Germans that the ships must be cleared of sailors and if his orders were not obeyed he would! return to the Hercules and would report that he was Obstructed m his work. Fearful of probable consequences, the Gejrman seamen left their ships at once. , Inspection of airship and seaplane stations .required considerable- land travelling, which permitted the members of the commission to gain information as to the condition of the people m the interior of the country. ' It is reported! that everyone encountered m Germany, even m such an industrial centre as Hamburg, seemed as well clothed and fed as are the people of France and England. Winter crops, owing 1 to. the mild season, were doing well, and the land is well cultivated and fertilised. SAW EMDEN'S COMMANDER. Admiral Sir Montague Browning, head of the commission, was accompanied by the best men from the Allied nations available for the work. They met interminable objections, obstructions and evasions by the Germana, but the commission was ultimately able to induce the Germans to find means to fulfil many points of the armistice which they at first flatly refused to carry out. Admiral Goette of the German navy seems to be the only senior German officer still attending to his duties. Admiral von Scheer and Admiral von Hipper have apparently disappeared into the same obscurity which hides General Ludfendorff and other former leaders who have sought safety m "retirement." A notable member of the German commission was Captain von Mullfer, who commanded the first Emden, to whom the British ( press paid tribute at the time his ship was sunk because of his ' 'sportsmanship. " Discipline at airship and seaplane stations ,was better than that on the German warships, it is. reported. The N'orderney seaplane station is said to compare most favorably with any station flf its kind m France and! England, while the great Nordholz Zeppelin depot is declared to bo the finest m the world. It was from here that virtually all G«rman raiders bound for England started. One interesting sight was the famous Ll4 Zeppelin sheds, which were successfully bombed by Allied airplanes last summer. At that time two sheds and two Zeppelins were completely destroyed. At Warnemunde, where a great experimental station was established by the 'Germans, the Allied commission met with difficulties when it asked permission to carry out the work of inspection. It was only under protest that the members were permitted to enter, the Germans fearing the commission would see something they~should not. The submarine commission under Lieut. Commander Bower pushed its m. vestigation assiduously at Hamburg and other point's, with' the result that scores of submarines nearly all near completion and hitherto undeclared by the Germans were found and reported. Admiral Goette protested to the last against giving up these submarines, but at a final conference consented.