Cijc ®uai*trinn And Kroniug Star, with whii-li is in corporator] tiio West Const Times. I‘H I i/AY. XOVK.WKKIi do, Idd.'i. Till-: Si IiMAIUM-:.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 November 1925, Page 2

Cijc ®uai*trinn And Kroniug Star, with whii-li is in corporator] tiio West Const Times. I‘H I i/AY. XOVK.WKKIi do, Idd.'i. Till-: Si IiMAIUM-:.

It i> sunn* cuMsol:itlull lur tin* latest ' siiliiiinrine di-aster. remarks l lie ( liristelmt.il “Press,'' that public opinion Ims lecii amused to ask if the submarine is a jM.MTiiissablo weapon of civilised warfare. Before the (beat War ,ueh an agitation would have prc.du.od mi result - first because the uorld did not then know that the submarine, when legitimately employed is next to useless; and in the second plate because no. one supposed that it would be used illegitimately. Tint the submarine to-day is the outlaw of 1 sea-craft, it cannot attack war-vessels without taking a far greater risk than the vessel attacked, ami when it attacks merchantmen it is beyond its power to attack them humanely. The world was horrified and enraged when Germany instructed its submarine commanders to sink at sight. It is even possible that if Germany had not done that the war would have ended a good deal less calamitously for her, and for civilisation. But there was really nothing else her Mihninrinos could do if they were to continue to he a thorn in the side of the Allies. They could not attack cruisers and destroyers. lieeau.se these were ton quick for them, too observant and far too deadly. I>ccause they could not, except on the rarest occasions, get a chance to attack battleships or transports. The submarine can in fact do little in war but outrage humanity, and it is entirely useless In peace. The fact that certain nations cling to it, and certain “high naval officers.'’ instead of Icing a reason why it- should not he forbidden, looks like a reason why it should be. It, suggests, so far ns those nations are concerned, that they do not sincerely desire world disarmament, and so far as those high naval officers are concerned, that is a sound instinct which makes nations like our own keep fighting men under the control of civilians. Nor is the fJmali cost at which submarines can lie built and maintained a. factor in their favour if it means death to everybody the moment anything goes wrong. T 1 is quite possible that things do not go wrong on submarines any more frequently than on surface vessels, and that when they do tlio lot of the imprisoned men is less horrible than landsmen imagine. But that does not alter the fact that- this lot, in nine cases out of ten. is death, and that the justification for exposing crews to such unequal chances, is again in nine eases out of ten, the hope that they mav he ready when the day tomes to make the biggest liner as real a deathtrap as popular opinion believes submersibles to be. The submarine remains—and there is no gain in concealing it—because some Powers will not abandon it, and the others are not sufficiently united to compel them to do so. There can be little doubt that our own Admiraltv would agree to abolition if this were to bo done universally and simultaneously, though if any Power has an excuse for providing itself with every known naval weapon it is the British Empire. In the meantime. however, the only useful step tliat can be taken is to organise public opinion against submarines—not “on sentimental grounds.” or because war can, should, or ever will be gentle and humane, but on the ground that the submarine is the scourge of the sens, murdering the defenceless far more often than the combatants, and achieving nothing in the end but the loss of those few traces of chivalry and humanity which civilisation still clings to.

With the rapid development of the use of motor-cars and of internal eomhustion engines for other purposes, the trade in gasoline has increased remarkably during the last few years. According to “Commerce Reports”

(Washington, D.C.) the United States uses aproximntelv 79 per cent, of the total world gasoline consumption, which figure corresponds very closely with the American percentage of tho total world motor-vehicle registration. Another significant fact, which shows the relative importance of the l nited States in the gasoline industry, tho United Kingdom, requires annually a quantity of gasoline equal to only about 7 per cent, of the American demand, while the total annual consumption of China, for example, is equivalent to alvout eight hours’ supply in the United States. Outside of the United States, the countries which manufacture gasoline from locally produced crude petroleum in sufficient quantities to supply all or a largo part ol the domestic demand, and leave a surplus for export are: Mexico. Peru and Trinidad in the Western Hemisphere; Russia, Poland and Roumauia in Europe; and India. Persia, the Dutch East Indies, anti British Borneo (Sarawak} in Asia. Venezuelan oil is refined to an increasing extent in the eonnlry. hut a larger proportion is exported as crude oil. chiefly to Curacao (Dutch Vest Indies) for refining, and the refined products are exported from that point. Columbia produces from domestic crude sufficient gasoline for practically all the country's requirements, but as yet, at least, it has not developed an export trade in this product. Tn portions of some of these countries, such as northern Persia, and the west coasts of Columbia and Mexico, and the northern border of Mexico, gasoline is still imported, because ol the inadequate transportation faeilities within the country or more convenient transportation from abroad, although the domestic output would otherwise render imports unnecessary. Countries which produce gasoline from domestic crude oil in sufficient quantities to supply a part <>f the local requirements, hut without a supply available for export to any extent, include Ecuador, Argentina. and Japan, and to a lessor degree tin proportion to consumption) Era nee, Italy. Canada and Czeeho-Slo-vakia. A domestic relining industry n] crating largely or entirely on imported crude oil, and supplying gasoline to llie domestic market, has been established in England, Canada, Austria. Hungary and Curacao.