It is though quite certain that Germany having notified her ploat to the world in such a blatant fash: ion must endeavour to give effect to her threats, We shall therefore probably lose a number of merchest vessels, perhaps of good size, though the victims will chiefly be the poot old tramps which only being able to do ubout 8 knots will not succeed in getting out of the way of the launched torpedo, All seamen seem to agree that it is not particularly difficult to dodge a torpedo, while a submarine can be detected with relative ease. In any case, ott ships are leaving the ports as usual and the only special precautions are the presence of an extra man 00 the bridge, a general alertness respect of the look-out on the pat of the crew, and in the case of the bigger vessels the carrying of 4 gun or two with an expert gunner Of course a special dead set will be made on our transports, but. people seem to forget that submarine at tacks have been planned agains them ever since the war started, though they have not suc ceeded in any single case, and the War Office have just taken over the entire Canadian Contingent to France, an undertaking which would need thirty to forty vessels. The topic was discussed this week it the House on the Naval Estimates when Mr. Churchill intimated tht the Allies were intending by wat of retaliation to stop all German trade of all sorts so far as lay in their power, an operation which should tighten the economic scrat on Germany even more than at present. Presumably therefore ves sels laden even with non-contraband goods will be held up.
Shortness of German Food Supplies.
Every indication shows that it has been the economic pressure which
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.