The North Sea Commission.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12758, 11 January 1905, Page 2

The North Sea Commission.

A FRENCHMAN S EULO'JY. LLNDEA\OUR TO SECURE Pl-BLIC SITTINGS. ANOTHER ETHEKGItAM. United Prens Association. — By I'Jeetiic Telegraph .— Copyrigh t . London, January !0. Admiral Fournier (the I'Vench member of the Commission) < ailed upon the President of tho North Sea Commission, and eulogised King Edward's and tho Czar's wisdom and moderation. Admiral Beaumont is said to have striven hard to secure public sittings. He has obtained tho admittance of reporters during the taking of evidence. Summaries of the Commission's decision will be communicated to the public. The Pall "Wall Gazette states that on tho night of the Dosrgor Bank incident an ctherg-ram in Russian was received at ShornclilTe and forwarded to the Admiralty, atirl deciphered as follows: — "What eTininc'* -'istaincd by Orel and Oleg ?" At that lime the Admiralty was not aware of the outrage, and it was Imas>in ■(! for some hours that the Orel and Oleg had been in collision. The Daily Mai! ?iij s that various Russian elheror.-mis were I'ech .-d «i Tjritihh stations durine. ih" pa-v.ane ot Ih'j Baltic Fle.-l down the Channel. Briti-di --hips had mulally mi-lal-en them for ' T ii";i!""< i , ;uid Ihe i»rpedo boat .story was an alterthought.

A PARALLEL.

Ihe Itiibsiiin case, sa\ s a Lallan telegraiiii from St. Polcr.sibure, will oito an incident reported in Brast»oj 's "Naval Annual" for. 1901, describing i<ow iho British cruiser jViinerva, off t'io west coast of Ireland, during the manoeuvres of 1000, finding herself at night aimong a fishing 'Jleot, mistook the boats for torpedo boats and hoisted the signal that sho regarded herself as blown up. Subjoined is the passage referred to. It occurs in Mr J . li. Thursfield's review of th« JUOO manoeuvres. "The Minerva, scouting off the West Coast of Ireland, got among a lloet of fishing boats off the Skelligs, en thu night of Juno 27. Mistaking them for torpedo-boats sho persuaded herself that she had bceu torpedoed, and lo} - ally hoisting the "Blue Petrr"-- tho signal for being out of liClioiii— she proceeded quietly to Milford, tl ore to await tho jdecitjion of thu •.inioire.s." As no torpedo boats under Admiral Rawson's order could ha\ o been engaged, the decision was naturally j>i\on in her favour. But the action of tho Minerva was remarkable, not to say quixotic. Such an incident could not, of course, happen in war, but, oven in war cruisersv which mistake lishing boats for torpedo boats aro lijkcly to meet with .strange adventures, and to play the cnomj's game rather than their own."