TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19456, 21 December 1934, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Admiralty War-time Policy.

“If, as seems to be generally conceded, we are to expect indiscriminate -bombing of towns, ships, etc., by aircraft should another war unhappily takes place, can we be assured that submarine attacks upon merchant ships as carried out in the late Avar will not also lie practised by a nation fighting with its back to the Avail?” Avritcs Earl Jellicoe in his book “The Submarine Peril: The Admiralty Policy in 1917,” Avhicli has just been published. “ Can avc be assured that treaty agreements can he relied upon under such conditions? Certainly the chances of treaty agreements being carried out are far greater if Ave have the poAvcr to enforce their observance. If there is any danger of such attacks in the future, it is essential that the British Empire should be in a position to place mercantile traffic under convoy again.”

In the course of his narrative, Lord Jellicoe crosses SAvords with Mr Lloyd George. Ilis suggestions, (lie product of an exceptionally active mind, but based on no knoAvledgc of sea conditions, Avere evidently the despair of the responsible naval officers, young and old. A Prime Minister, full of zeal and energy, could not be ignored. Lord Jellicoe deals only incidentally, but quoting chapter and verse, Avitli Mr Lloyd George’s incursions into (lie realms of naval policy and action.

He makes particular complaint that he appeared to attach more importance to the opinions of junior officers than to those of their seniors. “In this connection I recollect, when present at a meeting of the War Cabinet, hearing the Chief of the General Staff inform the Cabinet of the vicAVS of Sir Douglas Haig on some military operations. Mr Lloyd George interrupted and said: ‘I do "not agree with the Commander-in-Chief. I have a letter here from a subaltern iu the trenches which gives an entirely different opinion.’ ”