Emden, the southernmost port of Germany on the North Sea, has of late years acquired considerable naval importance. There have been frequent reports of the pending establishment of a State dockyard there, in connection with the Ems-Jade canal, which was to be deepened sufficiently to allow fairly large warships to traverse it. So far, however, this project has not been carried out. Two years ago Emden became a mine station, and the headquarters of the “Arkona,” a light cruiser converted into a mine-layer. Harbour works on a grand scale have lately been completed at Emden. There is a commodious basin fronted by wharves and warehouses, and fitted with up-to-date coaling plant. The canal which connects the port with the river is deep enough to allow the largest ships to come up. During the present war it is probable that Emden is being used both as a mine and torpedo base. It relies for its defence on the batteries at Borkum, some miles out at sea, as ships entering the River Ems are compelled to pass close to this island. The railway connections of Emden are very good, so good, in fact, that they are believed to have been dictated by strategical considerations. Emden has often been spoken of by German writers as a sally port, and as a convenient point of assembly and embarkation for an army of invasion. WILHELMSHAVEN. Wilhelmshaven ranks officially as Germany’s second war harbour, though its strategical position makes it, in fact, the principal base of a German fleet operating in the North Sea. It began its career as a naval station as late as 1869, since when enormous sums of money and infinite labour have been expended on its development. In area the dockyard is almost four times as large as that of Kiel, and it is even more modern in equipment. It contains a bewildering number of docks and basins, together with building slips, repair shops, depots, and store-houses. There are three Dreadnought graving docks and four smaller ones, and five floating docks, of which the latest can raise vessels up to 39,500 tons. Only one of the building slips is available for constructing Dreadnoughts, but a second is being lengthened sufficiently for this purpose. The total number of officials and workmen is about 10,500 under peace conditions. At Wilhelmshaven were built the Dreadnought battleships “Nassau,” “Ostfriesland,” and “König,” and at the present moment the battle-cruiser “Ersatz Hertha” is building there. The terminus of the Ems-Jade Canal is inside the dockyard, but so far as is known this waterway is too shallow to permit the passage of any class of warship.