GERMAN V. ENGLISH METHODS

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14654, 7 March 1918, Page 2

GERMAN V. ENGLISH METHODS

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT.

A curious siueiiglit on German stand-i ards of probity is to be found in the1 report of the case of Lieutenant. Spindlcr, who commanded the German ship Libau, which landed .Roger Casement on the Irish coast just before Easter, 1910, and was captured by the British. Spindler gave up £4 when taken prisoner saying that that was all the money he had. When his captor asked : "On your honour.?'* Spindler replied: "No; no more." A search revealed 21 £5 notes concealed in his clothing. Tim Attorney-General -(Sir F. E. Smith)' asked him when on the wit^ ness stand: "Do you think in the circumstances, that you were entitled to give an untruthful answer?" and the lieutenant replied: "There may be different points of view-—the point of view of an English officer and the point of view of a German officer.,. Vohmes could speak no more. The generosity with which Englishmen treat unprincipled enemies is indicated by the decision in the above case. The Prize Court adjudged Lieutenant Spindler's concealed money forfeited to the Crown, bub' magnanimously grantee! him out of it a full months-pay, equal to £26. The Court returned in full to two other German officers of the Libau the money that they had surrendered, as they had. truthfully stated the sums they possessed. Would a Gorman naval court have acted in like manner?