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Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 903, 17 May 1877, Page 2

We are glad to notice that the defenceless condition of this colony is beginning to attract attention. In recent articles wc have urged the necessity of immediate action being taken in the way of devising a cheap and efficient means of defence against solitary cruisers. A correspondent of a morning contemporary, signing himself “ A Pensioned Artilleryman,” makes some valuable suggestions regarding the defence of Lyttelton. He says that we have in Canterbury a respectable body of pensioners and time - expired men from Her [Majesty’s Army, in all about 150 able-bodied men, wlio have done good service in every quarter of the world, many of them having served in the Eoyal Artillery. He proposes that these should he enrolled, and an officer appointed to command them. Till guns, ammunition, &c., were obtained from England, they could he employed in erecting batteries, layingdown platforms, &c. He thinks that four Of -pounders, placed in position, would be sufficient to sink any number of unarmoured ships. The suggestion is worthy of consideration: with a battery such as he suggests, and torpedoes laid down in the harbour, Lyttelton might be rendered comparatively safe.