WHERE THE GERMAN MERCHANTMEN ARE PROBABLY SHELTERING.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13549, 17 August 1914, Page 4

WHERE THE GERMAN MERCHANTMEN ARE PROBABLY SHELTERING.

.To Australians the:chief^point of interest in the German possessions is New Britain, for here, the great naval base of Simpson-hafen'was recently established at a cost of thousands of pounds. Quietly, under the guise of mercantile expansion, Germany expedi- ; tiously and successfully a few years ago built up this naval base, right/ within striking distance of Torres iStraits, where all lines between Australia and the East converge. Simpsonhafen is on a peninsula of Blanche Bay, at Malupi. It is commanded by highlands of volcanic origin, and is an. ideal site for a naval base. The wharf is 1000 ft long, with spacious warej houses costing £40,000. The wharf i& larger than any in Australia, and is. equal to the needs of a oity of 100,000 people. But there is no trade and fewpeople at Sinipson-hafen. The port o£' Herbertshohe is only 10 miles away.. When 'operations first comrrenced theisland traders were puzzled at the scheme. They * wondered where the; huge shipments of timber arid stores, were going. In the "Sydney Morning. Herald," of November llth, 1904, there: appeared the prophetic sentences — •■ "Australia will probably never know what is being stored in the gigantic* warehouses of Simpson-hafen with any degree of certainty, unless at any time we should be at war with Germany."—

"Shipping and Commerce."