RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 191, 9 May 1940, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current Events

(By

Kickshaws.)

A “pro.” says that in golf the strokes should be natural. Nevertheless, they are very often only in the rough.

British unemployment figures, it is stated, are the lowest on record. We suspect there’s a job of work to be done in Europe.

A speaker declares that a husband should demand to know who is boss in his home. Nevertheless, we suggest he will be much happier if he doesn’t try to find out.

“I read with great interest your column in each day’s “Dominion” and have noted that you have settled many arguments and wondered if you could settle one for me on petrol,” says “8.E.G.” “What I wish to know is: (1) The amount of petrol imported into New Zealand in a normal year; (2) the number of tankers which come to New Zealand, in a normal year (actual trips) ; (3) the average capacity of the tankers.” [The normal peacetime figures are about 85,000,000 gallons. A tanker holds about 2,000,000 gallons.]

It is reported that experts are busy in Britain investigating the merits of a flood of inventions calculated to assist the Allies. Let us hope these experts approach their task with a broad mind. The history of the Great War shows that many important inventions were allowed to languish because they were novel inventions. Indeed, at the beginning of the Great War the importance of the aeroplane was never appreciated. It was looked upon as a pretty toy which would have very little military significance. Furthermore, Kitchener refused to have anything to do with the tin hat, possibly because he wore a brass one. This same individual, moreover, considered that the tank was of no military significance. Indeed, it was only by an alarming persistence that the tank was permitted to develop itself. The tone of high military experts was exemplified in the following report: “I therefore think that before considering the proposal we should descend from the realms of imagination to solid facts. . . . Any use of the caterpillar for the attack of trenches seems to be out of the question.” God grant our military experts a wider view in the present war.

It makes strange reading these days of the parachute to discover that the chief reason why the aeroplanes in the Great War were not fitted with these life-saving devices was because their use might be abused. Nevertheless, the parachute has come to stay, and all manner of uses appear to have been found for it. This hesitancy toward some military innovations is recorded all through history. In 230 B.C. a quick firing arrow-shooter was invented which discharged arrows at the rate of 100 per minute. It was a long time before the, advantage of the device was accepted, because it might produce an arrow shortage. Even after the battle of Crecy it was many years before the advantages of the newly discovered gunpowder were fully realized. The nation which realized this advantage won an Empire before the others realized what had occurred. We must take care that no such thing can occur today as regards the aeroplane, which is only beginning to be forged into a special weapon in warfare. Indeed, it gives an army an advantage equivalent to that given by the horse when used against unmounted troops in the old days.

In spite of the obvious significance of certain war inventions, such as tanks, it seems strange that experts spent much time and money in the last war training seals to detect submarines. These creatures were let loose at increasing distances from submarines. They were trained to swim to the submarine and receive a tit-bit of fisih. The idea was given up, however, because it was found that the seals often took a long time to swim to the submarine, especially if food was plentiful en route. Another wartime invention of 1916 was to use sea gulls to detect submarines. The idea was for our submarines to feed seagulls so that they learned to come in flocks. The idea was that enemy submarines on the surface would be heralded by huge flocks of gulls. The gulls however, soon learned when they were not wanted. In contrast, the tracer bullet nearly broke the heart of its inventor before its merits were apparent, and money was devoted to improving the idea. In much the same way the Mills grenade was born in travail on a war-stricken Europe.

Actually, many so-called modern war inventions are far older than most of us realize. The first anti-aircraft gun, for example, was used by the Germans against the French in tlie Franco-Prussian war of 1871. During that war the French made use .of balloons for observing the Germans, and in order to get reports and supplies into Paris. Krupps, therefore, designed the first “Archie” to shoot down these balloons. It was a pedestal quick-firer mounted on a four-wheeled horse wagon. Even the modern steel helmet is an imitation of one that appeared in the middle ages. Indeed, the ancient Cypriote soldiers had used the idea. Modern camouflaged battle dress takes us back long beyond the era of khaki in the days of Victoria. This form of camouflage was started with the field grey used early in the fifth century B.C. by the Persian warriors of King Xerxes. Even Xenophon also appreciated the merits of camouflage and ordered his soldiers to cover their brass accoutrements and armour with cloth. Unfortunately, the brass button has survived the common sense of Xenophon, as have other splashes of troublesome brass on military uniforms.

Even submarines are by no means new. The first one was constructed, tn 1023 by a Dutchman named Cornelius van Drebbel. Diving and' rising was controlled by leather bottles which could be filled with water and emptied. The crew breathed through tubes reaching above the surface. One might go further and point out that air raids are not new. The idea was considered centuries ago. Napoleon, moreover, worked out in 1804 a scheme to invade Britain by air. The balloon trip from France in a suitable wind, it was estimated, would take under 10 hours. A total of 2000 balloons were to be used. These balloons were to transport 132,000 soldiers, 400 guns and 15,000 horses. The British, tn fact, introduced A.R.P. as a counter measure. Plans were made for a complicated kite barrage in which the balloons would become entangled and destroyed. We are doing the same thing In this year of grace 1940. The difference these days is that modern metal alloys and an advanced engineering sense has elaborated <-n the old days and introduced couch - m .••-urea even more elaborate. It would appear Inevitable that some ray or such device will eventually defeat the aeroplane,