The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, October 15, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1311, 15 October 1914, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, October 15, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

What is the war going to cost ? This is a question which Mr Archibald Hurd, who writes as an expert on naval questions, discusses in the London Daily Telegraph. If it be remembered that the British, German, French, Russian and Austro - Hungarian navies are fully mobilised, and that the armies of all these countries, as well as those of Belgium and Servia, are active, and if the money which is being spent by the Dominions is taken into account it may be concluded, he says, that certainly not less than a day is now being spent. A high military authority conjectures that the war may last three years ; that would give an aggregate outlay of nearly

The bombardment of Antwerp some weeks ago by a Zeppelin airship led London newspapers to discuss the possibility of an attack on the capital of the Empire. It would be against the international code to drop bombs on an unfortified city like London, but Germany has already shown her contempt for the international code. At the beginning of the war the German Zeppelin fleet consisted of nine vessels, of which one belongs to the navy. The latter is a sister airship to the ill-fated Lx2, which exploded near Berlin last October, its entire crew being killed. Its cubic capacity is 950,000 cubic feet ; it can carry a useful load of approximately ten tons, sufficient, with a full crew, for a continuous flight of sixty hours’ duration, and even to allowing of wavmaterial in the shape of high explosive bombs amounting to some two tons in weight- The other craft are all of smaller size and inferior power. They range from Z2, scaling 630,000 cubic feet, launched in rgro, to Z 7, which was only completed last year, and has a capacity of 770,000 cubic feet. Nevertheless, even these smaller craft are capable of extended journeys, and possess a radius of action of fully 600 miles. A Zeppelin airship can only operate from a fixed airship base, whither it is bound to return after completing its flight, as its frail structure does not permit it to anchor in the open. The nearest airship stations to the North Sea coast are situated at Cologne, Dusseldorf and Cuxhaven. Further south there is another station at Baden. Under favourable conditions a Zeppelin would reach London five hours after leaving Cologne. It could carry a number of bombs, which could inflict a certain amount of material damage to buildings, though not to military works. A Zeppelin, to execute its mission, has perforce to fly low, probably at no. more than 3000 ft. ; it is, in fact, incapable under the best conditions of rising higher than 5000 ft., and at these altitudes it is well within range of ordinary artillery fire.