USEFUL INFORMATION.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13573, 14 September 1914, Page 2

USEFUL INFORMATION.

A good many stories have been told concerning the visit of the British fleet to Kiel shortly before the outbreak of war, but the best of them has been kept to the last. During the visit the Kaiser, as an honorary Admiral of the Fleet, paid a visit to the King George V., Sir George Warrender's flagship, and by way of showing his appreciation of British courtesy he offered the light cruiser squadron the privilege of passing through" the Kiel Canal. It is an inflexible rule on British warships that the lead must be kept going whilst entering or leaving harbour, and the result of the Kaiser's kindness was that when the fleet reached Portsmouth the Admiralty was in possession of a chart of the canal, showing the depth of water. The value of the chart in this case can scarcely be computed, for it shows that the heavier German Dreadnoughts could not be taken through the canal, the d^pth being insufficient, and the knowledge of this all-important fact must^have relieved Sir John Jellicoe of a great deal of anxiety. He has doubtless been able to leave the smaller British ships to watch the western entrance of the canal, while his big ships have been attending to the main exit from the Baltic.—Exchange.