OFFICIAL NEWS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2252, 11 September 1914, Page 6

OFFICIAL NEWS

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S CABLES MOVEMENTS OF COLONIAL TROOPS The_ Prime Minister, has received tho following official 'messages:— London, September 9, 9.10 p.m. The Press Bureau forbids any mention in the Press of movements of colonial contingents. The municipal'authorities in England have been requested to reduce powerful lights visible at sea or from tho air. ENCOURAGING REPORTS. Reliable. —The war reports to-day are encouraging.- On the Allies' left wing the Germans have retreated across the Morin. The Allies are still on the offensive near the Marne, and are advancing. It is -estimated that 3,000,000 men are engaged'. A battle is'now in progress along .a line from Meaux (twenty miles from Paris) to Verdun, and southward to the Swiss border.

' PATRIOTS OF INDIA. Patriotic offers from the Viceroy and Indian Princes evoked great applause when rend in the House of Commons to-night. In some instances, the Indians are offering >the Empire everything they possess. The Austrians are retiring before the Russians, and have evacuated Russian Poland.' " ' ■■ GENERAL ADVANCE OF THE ■ ■ ALLIES., London, September 9, 11.30 p.m. Paris reports a general advance to-day of the Allies' centre. There is no change on the right wing, and ho change in the Yosges and Alsace. The Germans have , been reinforced on. the Allies' left wing, but the position is regarded as satisfactory. The enemy is still receding. .. After desperate ifighting, the Montenegrin General Vacoticb. dispersed ten thousand Austrians, and occupied Focin. . *' . THE OCEANIC WRECKED. FIFTY THOUSAND REFUGEES ROR ENGLAND. • ; London, September 10, 2 a.m. The steamer Oceanic, which had been . converted into an armed merchantcruiser, was wrecked near the north coast of Scotland. The officers and crew' were saved. ' Fifty to sixty thousand refugees from' Belgium and France are expected to arrive in England during the next ten days. '. ,-■'.-. v THE SUBMARINE ITS'POSSIBILITIES. V The declaration' by Sir Percy Scott that submarines will have an advantage over battleships in war has led "Engineering" to. discuss the propulsion of submarines by oil or.steam onginos. It concludes: "It remains to be seen whe.ther the oil engines for cruising at low speed would save, under givon strategic conditions, an amount of fuel corresponding to the oxcess consumption at low apeed.of the steam engine, and thus compensate for the weight of tho oil engine, which must be dead-load when running .at full speed. But there still remains the fact that greater power of offensive, higher speed, and wider radius of actions-all necessities of the case —involve .increase in size. Every increase in the size of a submarine-boat not only adds to its visibility when running awash, but increases tho time and distance ■ required for disappearing if the vessel has to dive, and not to eink on an even lcoel, unless tho angle at which the vessel dives is made much steeper.

These various developments in the mechanios of the submarine show that progress is being made, but the problems have so many variants and demand such careful experimental research that it would be a mistake- to hasten unduly those responsible for the evolution of design. What is demanded on the part of our naval authorities is to move with as much rapidity towards improvement as is consistent with the ensurance of reliability in each vessel built, and at the same.time to maintain as much secrecy as possible. From the mechanical point of view the submarine is undoubtedly in a transitory state. To accept any design at the moment and build a great number of vessels in excess of the requirements as measured by bur opposing forces, would be unduly to tax the citizens' responsibility for tho defence of the Empire, with the extreme probability that'the vessels thus built would be obsolete in a very short time. For this reason we advocate an active policy by the-AdmiraU-y, but would regard as a tactical blunder the neglecting of the building of ships-of-the-line, particularly when all other Powers are continuing to add to their fleets, battleships, and cruisers. HEAVY GUNS . THEIR USEFULNESS IN WAR. On more than one occasion it has been stated that, in heavy artillery the Germans possess a superiority over the Allies. Certain it is that at Liego and! Namur they made . every use of their big guns. In the lighter branch the French are confident that they are more than a match for the invaders, while the British artillery. is a very efficient branch of the Army. The heavy armament of a field army comprises field guns, field howitzers, heavy guns and heavy howitzers. They all fire shrapnel shell and high explosive shell, the former being provided either with' timo or percussion fuses. The chief difference between a field howitzer and a field gun is that the shell used' in tho former is heavier, contains a large bursting charge, and has a steeper angle of descent. Fire from howitzers, therefore, is more searching; the angle of descent of tho shell may -be as steep as 1 in 1. For this reason they can fire from behind steep cover, and can therefore be well concealed; they can also be very effective against men in entrenchments, and can continue with safety to support tho advance of infantry, by firing ovpr their heads much longer than can field guns. Shrapnel sliell arc hollow, containing as many bullets as possible, together with a bursting charge sufficient to open the shell, release the bullets, and givo enough smoke to show where the- shell burst. Tho bullets spread over an area about 25 yards wide, by 200 yards long. Shrapnel aro , burst either' by time or percussion fuses, that is either at a certain time during flight or only after tho shell has struck the ground .or somo other object. Timo fuses are used against men in tho open, percussion against troops behind buildings .or