16 FEBRUARY 1918, Page 2

Lord Jellicoe, speaking at Hull on Friday week about the

diffi- culty of exterminating the enemy submarines, ventured on a fore- cast under the impression, as he has since explained, that the meeting was private. He was confident, he said, that by 'the late summer, about August, " we really shall be able to say that the submarine menace is killed." We record the prediction because it gained wide publicity ; but Lord Jellieoe, the least boastful of men, would never have committed himself to any such statement in a speech intended for the newspapers. We hope that the prediction may come true, but if its fulfilment is delayed beyond August, we shall not think any the worse of Lord Jelliooe.