DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 574, 31 July 1909, Page 14

DEFENCE NOTES.

(Bi Eobilos.) >

■;< /_, The present uneasiness existing in conneo- • tion with the supply ■of horses for military purposes ,is::in-mTtrted Aontrast to the «ffi- .'/, cient system adopted by the German Govern- : r ment. , -Briefly speaking, tho Government en- . courages farmers in horse-breeding by selling 'themrtwo, and ,tiree-year-old: mares at a cost of £10 to £20 each.. An agroement is entered ■ into ion the, part of /the 'farmer whereby ■he rUlidortakos 'to breed': horses and to/give the Government tho refusal of young stock; The Remount, Department • also' supply good stallions which aro distributed in various

- . parWvof' the country.. All remounts , are ,■■!■*:■■*:.:■■■■ i bought as three-year-olds, and are kept for ',!'one year before being issued to the cavalry. Heavy horses of--a olass to those smpphed to our Household Cavalry aro ;. , bought from farmers and others at an average price of from £50-to £60. These aro ■■■; sent .to the :;Cuirassiere and . the Garde du- ' Corps. Horses for the Uhlan and; Dragoon - ' > "Regiments command a sale at £45 to £50; } whilb'-a small, wiry horse, about 14 hands in height, and bicd chiefly in East Prussia, is ■ , bought at about £40 and supplied to-Hussar 'Regiments. This class >of . norso is capablo of enduring great exertion, and contains • ■' traoes' of /Arabblood in" its :physique.. • In■ "addition to home-breeding, agents of tho ■ j s German Government are. constantly scouring ; the horse;districts of England and Ireland, 1 • making large purchases on- behalf .of, the i i v Army> Remount Department:, '• first''demonstration, in-.Europe .of the • Maxim gun silenoor,vwhich has attracted.;so i . .'much-' atteiition.'in ■tihO'«lJmted'''.Stateai .todls i • ■ i ■ place in range, of the King's •' ■ 01nb('-in Jermyn i Street, London," recently. . The isilenoer-' ifl'ia small and -i ' pieee of mechanism,/about length, IJin.V'in diameter, and 'Weighs 12oz. v, It. is : ■ "attached to the;muzzle of tho riflo by a,, i '. .screw arrangement;''the total, cost being 2os. Liflide- the: silencer are a .series of discs, - ■:■ wiudi, wben-exposed in section, suggests, a '.turbine' ..wlteel'/ -Thoy lare •so placed . and :,. •. shaped as to cause-.the gases to rotate: The illustration used by Mr. H. P. Maxim, son , of Sir Hiram Maxim; who present yesterday to explain, his is tho.ac- .. t'lon l 'which takes place in a bowl of water v when tho plug is' removed < and a stream -is ■ 'projected into the ;bowl-,with considerable ■ foroo. i The around, the edge ofHho bowl, and leaves a hole m the centres, ' ' ' anditho more force .with whioh:-the -stream .enters -the-, bowl-.'the: -larger the- hole.. , Tho Kf';-'- mos-ii striking' .experiment ywas made, .at " the '.•' close. Everybody .knows that tho --force of the explosion at tho muzzle of a military rifle used in the ordinary, way is tremendous. .. A slight illustration of ; the/fact was given, ; , /yesterday when' a' large card: was bloim' to shreds by the British service nfle. Then the -''.'silencer" was sprewed ion the weaponi 'tiMr.: -: •Maxim held hia.own visiting card within^.an., - '' inch* of the muzzle, the rifle was fired, ; and ■'■•• the inventor's fingers were not scorched, nor. ,y. was";the card -damaged': except for tho :sinall hole'made by tho bullet. v ' Dt. J. Thompson Reid, of Montreal, (ad"dresses{to - the-London "Times'! a Canadian i view-of the Imperial defence problem.He z says ■fv.:, :"While we do not. minimise the. vital. inis.portance of.• the-'building of ij ./'some'of us-who have, studied the;Jsooial. /ahdi ■ :■■-.• boonomio.,'conditions, of -tho teeming millions, x "of East London and of your industrial cen-: v-t : V :,tresjhave .returned to Canada?wondering howin many Dreadnoughts would bo required to '■ / / 'compensate - for -the - physical - declino- ;'of-/ tha.V , ': •.. • British main'hbod by whose, former, might."ati'd: i V- * - .".valour'Britain has -become tho -rulor.-of ( ,'''half:l -":r- the world and all tho main.'' Half , a century' •. ago.'jthe minimum standard of ;h.eight;. for' " your infantry was sft. .6in. Dumg the .en-,.i . ' . suing" .quarter of a .century that : standard was;reduced to 'sft. 3in. During tho;-JBoo1"| ...- ■: Warrit was.further reduoed befofo the end of'that,'war it was: reduced-i to sft. During -the Boer -War the. average I ■ British soldier was 2fn. shorter, lm. loss- in j :[ ohed! girtb, andj 151bi lighter than, the avor- . -/'-dge [British soldier in tho Crimean War. A Canddian-"visitjng,!your.-industrial .... , does? not - -need . any • statistics at all-, for. he • - ■ sees:only- too-much evidence.of physical de- - cline in the'/majority zof the* men whom/no : -i seesi on the -/.The. 1 Japanese: ■. hayo v •. . ... shown'.that, men of smaller staturo''may' be .sturdy-men;-But ifigures.seem to. show-that in England that principle does not apply. 'Dunng the recruiting in London for i-the,' Boor War about, 40 iper/cent, of . tho applicants were rejected as unfit, and m. the : manufacturing centres, ,that. percentage was fitill higher J' ' '

All sections of the German artillery brigades are now fully equipped with a Held telephone equipment, as a rosult of continuous experiments at manoeuvres The lessons of the Eusso-Japanese War haie been closely studied and applied to a practical use by the artillory department of'the German General Staff. The equipment consists of four rolls of wire, eaoh roll measuring 600 vards, making 2400 yards in all Detached batteries are provided with one instrument and one', ioll.ot wir.e„fjora- the... mam equipment » Every battery Ms connected, with the brigade Btaff by telephone, and the brigade staff is ' linked up with the divisional headquarters by the same method. A telephone section m the Japanese ATmy consists of three oflicors and 4 rank and file, 22 artificers (non-com-batants), 9 riding and 16 draught horses The transport consists of two carts containing instruments, one part for reels, one for I poles and ladders, and one to carry gieatcoats, camp 'kettles, and other miscellaneous equipment. Eachi section carries 10,G00 yards I of insulated wire on 20 reels of 530 yards each. ,'The system of laymg the wire is to, 1 strap a reel on tho back of a man, who runs' 1 along" paying'' out the wire as he goes, with another man.followmg up with a forked pole by means of'which the wuo'is hitched "on to eaves of houses and branches of tiecs The instrument is contained in an oblong trans- 1 mitter and receiver being in one piece. Use- , fnl work is carried out by these telephone sections' during the annual manoeuvres, and • the system has been greatly improved since I tho Manchuria I The - * Swiss Artillery has recently adopted ' a reflector to indicate; on manoeuvres the "•' target tainied at by them.. It consists of a 'powerful acetylene lamp mounted on a tripod 3 feet high, with a hollow cylinder 18 or 20 inches'•long and 1} feet in diameter, fixed on top!of the lamp The interior of I the cylinder, is divided up by a series of vertical and parallel plates, one inch apart,' and extending tho full length of tho cylinder, one end of which has a removable cover with a handle on it This cover has a concavo reflector'on its insido surface, with a small hole'in-tho centre. Tho light ■s | flashed on to the target by a sighting apporatns through ,its long axis, while tho cover is held by a man about 8 inches in the rear of the cylinder, and keeps tho shadow of tho small bole on tho sight in a similar way to the working':of a heliograph The lamp is only used when there is no bun Tho reflection of'the sun's rays is very powerful and satisfactory results have been obtained from j ' its (Use during training and manoeuvres. The now'luminous shell now being experimented, with.Cbcforo Toulon, possessfes many novql features. Not only does its uso permit of recqnnoitnng a hostile fleet, but by ;ts light tho rapid movements of tho lighted vessels can easily be followed It lights up tho surface of the sea with a laigo ray of light, and for more tian a quarter of 'an hour's duration. The cost of tho shell 's as yet rather great, representing about £20, but with the modifications to do afterwards introduced, this amount will be much reduced There are jsome 8,000,000 boys between the ages of 10 and 17 in Great Britain, and the SJcout movement will in time embrace them nil. In a certain regiment of Yeomanry in the South of England—a crack corpsno fewer than 57 of the rank and file orej Scout-masters to troops of Boy Sco-uts i This, shows how deep an interest tho members ofi tho Territorial Army tako in tho Boy Scouts