A BAD BLUNDER.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13650, 7 March 1908, Page 5

A BAD BLUNDER.

THE* KAISER AND a'H^BttlTlSH' '* ' • NAVY. A LETTER TO LOIiiXTWEEDMQFTJI NEWSPAPER'S VTOOROrS I»RO']TEST. By Eieclric Telegranh.— .Copyright. „ LONDON,,. March 0." ThV'Tttnes states that the Kaiser hoi writlett' to Lord Tweedniouth, Firsst Lortfw the Adawralty, regard mg tho British-German naval pbiiey, and a reply lias been despatched. ' The paper aftirmi that tho Kaisor's letter amqunts to an attempt to m T lluoace, in German interests, the Miuister responsible for the British Naval. Estimates. . < . The. Times, ur^os^hat -tlic letter be made public, a«d iusi&ts tkat if a plime^t»ry titje of Admiral in tho British Navy can be held to warrant a foreign potentate interfering in our domestic affairs by secret apneals to tin head of a department on which tho national safety depend.*, it becomes an urgent necessity tb abolish .siuh dyriartic compliments. The Times assorts: "IF King Edward had similarly comfn\inier.tod with th*? head of the €Jeruiah nami or military dopavtmont, there would be* a univereil cry of an^r from- one oud of (icriuany to tbe oU>^r, and the world would hold Germany within'iher riVhts in raising. such a cry. M • • '^If tiie Kaisor had anything to say to Britain tendiug a fair understanding about armaments, he could use t]ie regular official channels for communicating with the British (jovernmont; No private rotations with members *f the. Ue.ve'rumeni} can excuse a departure from tjwjular methods^ and recourse, to private intiueuceSj to wl»ch some men are ; amenable whe.n it cow.es from an. exalted quarter. LORD TWEEDMOtfTJI EXPLAINS. PURELY A PERSONAL LETTER. THE KAISER'S UNCONVENTIONAL Ways. (Received March 7, '9.13 a.m.) LONE>OS, March 6. Lord Tweedmonth authorises the statement that the Kaiser's letter was pnrery l personal, and did not contain any 1 reference to the British naval estimates. ' . For the further information of Parliament, Lord Tweedmouth added that the letter was not addressed to him in his capacity of First Lord of tho Admiralty. Lord Tweedmouth's secretary, interviewed, said the letter did not contain any reference to the British naval estimates in the way suggested. \ |fje declined to say trltether it refer fed to the German naval policy. The Westminster Gazef te agrees w'th the general principle "that it is inconvenient for' a sovereign io cor're-^ spend with Ministers'- of another Power. "But," the paper adds, "the Kaiser is unconventional, and when h4 departs from.the ways of tradition, it- must in nowise be assumed that he is^ guilty of some Machiavellian design upon' the innocence or. independence,, or hi»'« nei^hbmirs. .'-" Nothing- con|t! be more absurd than the suggestion that Lord Tweedmottth would be infhieneed toward economy by the Kaiser's representations." Other newspapers-ask -for' more light.