DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 734, 5 February 1910, Page 12

DEFENCE NOTES.

(Bi EohilomJ /The extensive development'of the Boy Sooute movement has necessitated a considerable enlargement, of , the directing staff, and an executive council has now; been fonned - for,, carrying'. on the work.' This oouflcil at; present consists of the following, with power to add to its numbers: Chairman,' .Lieut-General Sir E. S. S. Baden-Powell; vice-chairman, MajorGeneral Sir Herbert Plunier; chief commissioner,' Lieut.-General Sir Edmond EUes ,• council, Colonel Ulick de Burgh, Colonel Brownrigg, Mr. H. Geoffrey, Elwes, Mr. Percy Everett, Mr. Francis Pixley, and Mr.' J. Archibald Kyle (secretary). ■.->.:,

A very interesting discussion.on airship warfare appears in the December issue of the official journal of the Eoyal Artillery by Colonel; F. G. Stone,: E.A. A chief 'point is that of how,to dirigible balloons from the land. ■■ i ,::•;. Colonel' Stone says that on May 24.an, experiment was carried out at Juterbog, forty i miles' from Berlin, by . two companies of infantry against a captive balloon, 40ft.' in length., The weather, was fine and sunny, and the target at a range of 1250 yards clearly distinguishable. One company fired 4800 rounds in five minutes without produoirig any visible effect. The machine gun section'' .then ■'■■■ fired ■ -2W rounds in two and-a half minutes, but still without visible result. The' balloon was then hauled down, and was found to have been pierced by. 78 bullets,; This result confirmed the view previously-held that-yi balloon can be. injured; but not. brought down, by infantry .fire. It was a pity, that no car'was attached to the bal T loon as .it would have -been interesting to see if any effect could be. produced on the attachments or'machinery, as it, most probably would on the crew. The holes made by the, bullets tended to close of; themselves owing.to the nature of, the material. The -result.of the .experunent was a'•'■ definite pronouncement. that infan-: ,try should.only fire at a balloon.if it ia. near; enough to enable., them to. hit the occupants of the car,: and that the, task of destroying the balloon itself or rendering it incapable of-proceeding,-.must be left: to. the artillery.' . •-:■ _,':'■ In the latter! oonneotion' Colonel Stone shows thati'Krnpp ,and\ the Dusseldorf Arsenal both.possess guns .specially d* Wned for.use against 1 airships and aero-, planes, which is equivalent to saying that the German, army, possesses this equipment./; .■';•.■''..;'. •■:;. ■ ;.'.:;:,■ ;.';.: ':'■'},'■■■:■■

' -. Xietitenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth . Baden-Powell, K.Q.8., who I has 'just 'retired from' the; Army ; :in order to-give 1 his. whole attention 'to ■■ .the" Boy. Scout movement, was born in 1 1857. : He is the son of-Eev. Prof. Baden-P.owell, of Oxford, and -Henrietta Grace,: daughter of-Admiral'WV-H. : Smyth:-, He was educated -at"i Charterhouse, and joined the 13th Hussars :in ,-1876;: as adjutant.' ,he .'served in' : that regiment in India,. Afghan-, ist'an, and South Africa; served on the staff as-assistant-military secretary; South Africa, 1887-89; .was. mentioned'' in > dis-.-patches! for his conduct during operations in Zululand, 1888; assistant-military sec-: retary, -Malta, ,1890-3; special,.,service,' Ashanti,.iin, command'of : native levies, 1895 .-,' (star, . Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel);-chief- staff' officer, - campaign- in Matabelelaud; 1896-7' (dispatches, Brevet-Colonel);. Colonel of Irregular Horse,- South, Africa; promoted" from- ■ 13th Hussars to command of sth Dragoon Guards, 1897-9j' defended Mafeking',.llß99-1900" (promoted Major-Gen-eral,'- mentioned in., dispatches); i opera.; tioris Transvaal, 1900-01 (dispatches, C.8.); organised Constabulary,-19U0-3; -v.- Inspector-General ;' ! of - Cavalry, . 1903-7 j 'founded the organisation of Boy.: Scouts to promote 'good- citizenship -in the:fis-irig.generation, 1908.:. Is:the author of 'numerous |'works,? including "Reconnaissance*: of Scouting,"- ; struction,"- "Matabele -Campaign,". "Aids to Scouting," "Sketohes -in Mafeking". "Scoutingvfor'■: 80y5.".-': Sir Robert exhib-' ited sculpture in the .Royal: Academy in 1907;';. He, js;£~bachelor.; > :-'/'.-", •:.' -' -'...: \ v

J; One-'of tliS'"pioneefs-of the modern ..wea-, pon—the man who invented 1 the percussion lock—met,,at the hands: of, the War Office of the''day,: the: usual:reward :/of 'the.inventor.'. This .was the Bev. Alexander thei'minister of- the bleak- Aberdeenshire parish of : BelhelvieV The'.invention, which.:was:in'lßos/ was so momentous', that ;•' Napoleon. offered; . ■ the. minister ;■ for; it, but he declined.'Instead, he: took;it, to._ the. British .Government, -.which gave him: a room: in: the Tower where he could, carry.-oh his .experiments.^l After'twelve months of hard ; work >ne' was requested' by .the' Ministry (which had : changed) ;to , remove; himself and-his "rubbish" from the -Tower..; Ho had -the" utmost .difficulty .in -getting his ' actual'expenses repaid; he. had 'to.' wait twenty-seven -years before: his - invention wasttester.d r . at. Woolwich; '■ thirty-two ,;W fore'a regiment wasarnied with it,: thirtyfour before it was usedin war,; while .he ' has' had to; wait till '1909 for a ■ separate and accurate biography, which now comes from the pen of his proud-grand-nephew,' Major-General-.Sir Alexander John. Forsyth- Reid, &C.8., Colonel of the-29th Punjabis: •' Forsyth .varied'his-ministerial, tasks by; the'study' of chemistry and-me-chanics. ■' and -his attention was. called to the mechanismof- firearms when shooting .wild-fowl oh a looh hear the' manse: ' He. noticed that many birds escaped.his bag by diving 'the moment",they-saw the flash flint .fowling-piece.; viated this-by covering, ; the look*'.with '• a sidehead,' a! primitive device that may be said - to' have,-. developed.:' afterwards into the ; percussion lock.' ."Forsyth made,,-his. first percussion gun in. 1805, and took'out a .parent: in; July, , 1807, i the - specification being drawn up. witi-ther'assistance.of. James, Watt. A'. partnership 'was .;■ ar-ranged,'and-under .-the superintendence of a practical- gunmaker a place of. business was opened at 10 Piccadilly,; Forsyth being, connected with-it-untiV 1819. -;.-

■'.■■ The' : ; Pres3_ Services, -a Conservative 'Press organisation, .which is said'to 'have; exceptional ;60urces':of -information; circulated recently a .statement which,: if well- founded,: indicates, a, shortage of. cordite worse, even than which led to- the downfall of the Eosebery. Administration: in 1895.: It is". stated . that 'not only is the service supply of cordite' limited,' but there .is no reserve; available the .country, .either .in-.the.'Govern-ment arsenals-or in the. privates factories. The stock'in hand, of-the'ohemicali.com-, ponents of cordite,.notably 1 acetone, which has to .be/; imported,/is. inadequate to meet-any. possible demand. ■ -A;.stock: of 'at 'least ;200 V.tons. •- of. -,', acetone -• should always, be available for .a. minimum,margin of.safcty'to meet the contingency ofwar. . To-day, it'-.'is 'said, there are only, eighty tons of the substance in;the. whole | of:. the United Kingdom. ■ It: takes, ap-, -proximately three -months-.to manufacture cordite..' The .'average'; factory. can' produce about ten tons per week of the material.- In' oase of emergency it would, take between ten weeks and three, months. :before these •' factories .'could- begin to, supply .ammunition, at. the stated' rate; It-takes over : two months to get.dry and fit for servioe purposes : '■"■-'■"'•••.■.. ■''. Dr., Macnamara, Secretary; to the Admiralty, in a subsequent, interview,' characterised- the statement as' an attempt to cover the retreat of the. House' of Lords:-from ■'-'■ the "classical '■■ blunder":' of .November 30:. Ho said-that .among the attempts to shelve the real issue after, the single chamber bogey, the Home Rule.' bogey,' and the: N ayy, bogey, there had been, another frantic glance into the' property room;, and this times Tories: had, brought out ."our old friend, cordite" "Really,",, remarked'tho .speaker, "these people do not improve as-, they ;go on.' I suppose that somebody, or other said, 'Look here, cordite did the trick, for the Radioal Government in 1695, try them with cordite again.'; Whether;that be so or not, I must say that I" consider the cordite score easily more preposterous and ridiculous than.any of the silly bogeva which preceded.it"- With regard to the statement that there was no reserve supply, of oordite in this country,' and that the stock on hand of acetone was inadequate to meet. any. possible demand;' he had. unhesitatingly to say that both these statements were grotesquely untrue. "Our reserves' in these particulars are, at. present in all, respects up to, and, in some cases, above the war, reserve limit, and are higher than, they have evor. been before in . this country. Ho did not care what stago property still remained to bo. hauled down,'but he .was confident that: for silliness *he cordite «care could not, be; beaten. -