The appointment of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher ae First] {oi Sea Lord must be regarded, to a certain extent, as a concession tol the J public opinion. An almost par-case was the appointment of Field-Marshal Lord Roberts to command the army in the South African War. But in the latter instance the selection of Lord Roberts would have been made in any case when the necessary forces were in the field. What the public has been secking is that the undoubted abilities Lord Fisher should be utilized. No fault has been found with the Admiralty, but it was felt that, with such' grave issues involved, the experience of Lord Fisher should be drawn upon. The difficulty lay in finding a place for him, and it is not too much to suppose that Prince Louis of! Battenberg, who prefers to be at! sea, has generously withdrawn and that a post will be found him in the Grand Fleet. Lord Fisher was First Sea Lord of the Admiralty from 1904 to 1910, when he retired. In 1912 his services were requisitioned once again and he was appointed Chairman of the Royal Commission which studied the question of oil fuel for the Navy, while he retained hie seat on the Committee of Imperial Defence. Admiral Fisher, who is in his seventy-fourth year, served as a lad in the Crimean War, the China War of 185980 and the Egyptian War of 1882, in the Iatter commanding the Inflexible at the bombardment of Alexandria.
He has commanded the majority of the squadrons and is an officer of undoubted ability and strength! of character. firing on that town, emphasises that she did not fire on the shipping in harbour but on the oil tanks, because her captain wishee to damage shipping without taking innocent lives, and he knew that if he could set the oil on fire it would float over the harbour and burn the ships for him, while allowing their crews time to escape This is mere theory, but it fits in with the universal sccounte given by the Emden's prisanere of her captain's courtesy and om-sideration. There i give it for what it he has an English mother and wife, and was partly educated at Harrow.
Nov. 3.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.