JAPANESE WARSHIPS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2092, 29 May 1907, Page 2

JAPANESE WARSHIPS.

The Japanese gunners who watched the recent prize-firing of tho British China Squadron consider that the Admiralty have made a mistake in treating the 6-inch gnu as'an obsolete weapon. They hold that battles will be won at sea as much

the moral effect v of the bursting shells outside as by the material results of shell fire.

In a heavy sea, they say, hydraulicworked guns will never be worked so quickly or laid so accurately as handworked guns. If tho Dreadnought could always arrange to, fight outside the limit of 8000 yards of her enemy, she would not feel tho v T ant of tho 6-inch guns; but the times must occur when light and sea conditions will make it necessary to close inside the zone of 6000 yards. It is understood that the Japanese Dreadnought will carry twelve 6-inch guns. i

Japanese naval discipline is a marvellous thing to English eyes. There are no ship police, and there is practically iio code of punishment. A.', officer remonstrates with a faulty man, reminds him of his ancestors aud appeals to his love of country. the man is recalcitrant the officer slaps his face once or twice, and that brings liiin to his senses. ' “ * Ihe relations between officers aim men are paternal, like the French, and owing to the absence of pliysici. punishmeiits, and also of crime', th " .terms existing between tho uppci deck and the lower deck are descril ed as ideal. Since the war, however, there is a slightly greater tendency to drink on the prrt of tho seamen.

It is a mistake lo think that the Japanese have copier the English navy iji other than mechanical points, in construction. in arrangement, dress, and material. They think for themselves on the higher subjects of discipline, strategy, and tactics. Tho arrangements for the Tsliushima victory were worked out by a lieutenant on the staff of the Tokyo, and Admiral Togo, to his eternal honour, accepted the plans of his junior, who has since been promoted to commander. --