The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-14
U-BOATS' GRIP BROKEN, BRITISH ADMIRALTY SAYS

| London, Feb. 14-In the House of
 Lords yesterday Admiral Baron Beres- ford, drawing attention to the sub-
 marine menace. and asking what
 measures had been taken to meet it, l said:
 l we have lost since the beginning 1 of the war 100000 tons of shipping. 1 That is a fact which the public should
 know, but it is not nearly as serious
 as it appears.I We have made up the
 loss very considerably. Three million tons which have been lost have been
 more or less adequately filled. There l is not the slightest necessity for panic. | We have done remarkably well, and | shall do a great deal better in future, 1 but we have had time to face it, and l 1t is to that time that I desire to call attention"
 The country, Baron Beresford con- l tinued, had been informed in August, 1 1915, that the submarine menace was we'll in hand. AS far as he could gather, he said, it was nearer coming 1 to be we'll in hand; today, owing to ] the new ideas brought to the Admir- atty by men fresh from the sea who l had had experience in this novel form of warfare and it's mysteries. Baron Beresford, while acknowledging the submarine menace was serious, said it would not be fatal menace, and he | was confident that in six weeks or so the nation would have the submarines really in hand.
 The Earl of Lytton, replying for 1 the Admiralty, said the government l would be glad if it were possible to take the public entirely into its con- dence, but that that would involve 1 imparting information to the enemy, and the Admiralty was determined | that the Germans should have that l information by experience and not through questions in Parliament. I've are the sea police of the whole world and Germany is playing the role of highwayman," declared Lord Lytton.
 we are confident that we can con- tinue in the future as in the past, not merely to supply our armies at the front with munitions and SUD- plies and carry out our obligations to our allies, but also to keep free cer- tain routes for neutral commerce and obtain necessary supplies for our own people"
 Although the new phase Of the submarine warfare was only a. fort night old, Lord Lytton said, the coun- ter-measures put into effect already had achieved very considerable suc- cess and justified confidence in ex- pectations for the future.
 Lord Curzon produced figures which he said, showed that the sit- uation was less aggravating than might be supposed. He said: 'In July, 1914, our mercantile nla- rine consisted of $500 vessels in ex-
 cess of 1,600 tons each, with gross
 tonnaye of 16,850,0OO. At the end
 of last January the decrease had been
 only between and 6 per cent. in
 gross tonnage. Admiral Jellicoe and
 those who have been with him are not
 dissatisfied with what has been done
 even in the last fortnight. They were
 not dissatisfied with the number of
 German submarines that would never
 return to their own shores"
 Apparently the government is re-
 lying on a great number of destroy
 CTS and the arming of merchantmen.
 Lord Lytton said that all the ship
 wards in the world would not suffice
 to build the destroyers needed, but
 every available yard was being util-
 ized for that purpose. Both speak
 CTS represented the Admiralty as be-
 ing thoroughly awake and ready to
 employ every, useful device submit
 ted to it for coping with the dang
 CT.
 Lord Curzon, pointing out the ra-
 tio of armed vessels that escaped sub-
 marine attack, compared with un+
 armed vessels, as to ], said the
 process of arming ships was being
 greatly accelerated, and that the
 number now armed exceeded by 40
 to 50 per cent. the number armed at
 the beginning of last December.
 Strong efforts were also being made
 toward new construction of mer- chantnaen, orders having been given
 both in America and Japan, he said.
 Both speakers emphasized the ne-
 cessity of the nations cooperating
 with the government in restricting the use of all unessentia1 commodi-
 ties. declaring that self-sacrifice in this direction would be the greatest assistance to the navy by nberating more men.