The Supply of Small-Arm Ammunition.

Free Lance, Volume IV, Issue 204, 28 May 1904, Page 17

The Supply of Small-Arm Ammunition.

By Bullseye. (From the Weekly Press," 4th May,

I have leceived 1 beveral letters calling my attention to a statement made a few weeks back by the Hon. Mr. Wigram. at a, meeting i egardang the defence at the colony, in winch the speakei said, aftei expiessmg excellent opinions regarding the necessity for teaching our volunteers judging distance and scouting -He had referred to the necessity foi accumulating stoics of ammunition. The main, souuce of ammunition here v.a& a factory at Auckland. It was at one end of the colony, and wab veiy close to the sea. If a, raid was made, it w ould be possible to attack that factory and destroy it. There should be a factory in the South Island, and it should be placed at a distance from the sea. so that it would not be open to the kind of attack." When making those remarks, Mr. Wigram evidently forgot he was suggesting an almost impossible njndert&kine. even if the enormous capital required to start such a factory was forthcoming. The amount of ammunition used in this colony, though large in proportion to the, population, would never suffice to keep two factories running and 1 therefore a second one, situated in the South Island, would probably be a mistake. To my mind, the position of the present factory is a most suitable one. and indeed it would be difficult to find a better. The reasons are briefly — (1) All ammunition factories must be situated in or in dose proximity to a lairee town, because of the employment of labour, so large number of the machine operators being girls or women, who live with, their parents within a short distance of the woiks. There are only about four towns in the colony in which this could be satisfactorily done and Auckland is one of them. (2) The emormoius expense of carriage of mat en-mi, which is very weighty. When the question of the site of the Federal Ammunition Factory in Australia was first discussed, it was suggested to pliace it inland, somewhere- between New South Wales and Victoria, but, after the matter was gone into by the Fedeiai House of Parliament, it was acreied that a factory could! not be carried on successfully unless situated close to Melbourne or Sydney, on account of the impossibility of getting the number of hands, le-quiredi, and 1 the great cost of freighting all mateual overland 1 instead cf bv watei carriage. Eventually, the Australian factory, which now employs about 000 hands, was placed within three or four miles of Melbourne, and within two or three miles of the sea, and, according to the highest authorities, in the Commonwealth in these matters, it was tlhe most suitable place, as there was water carriage by river to the works. Should Mr. Wigram be m Auckland' at any time it would, perhaips, be well if he could arrange to visit the Colonial Ammunition Companys 1 works at Mount Eden, when he would find thait the works are not situated close to the sea, bams over two miles and a half from Queen-street wharf, and fully ten miles «T5 the crow flies from the outside of the harbour, while hostile ships could not approach within fifteen miles as the ci mv flies of the ammunition, works, as, if they did they would be within the danger limit of submarine mines and the guns of the fort. Before the ammunition works could be rendered useless, or be captured, Auckland would have to be in the hands of an enemy, and when that day comes it will be a poor chance for New Zealand I can hardly think Mi . Wigram real 1 ■«- anticpates such aai event, for in that case he would be obliged to admit the forts, submarine mines, and) all other means taken to protect the port of Auckland from a foreign foe weie useless and. that being the ease, only an enormous expense and 1 encumbrance to the colony. What applies to the taking of Auckland applies wJ/th, equal force to any sea, port in New Zealand, and if an ammunition factory was situated inland it would not, be one what the safer than it is at present, for if an enemy was strong enough to take Christ church he would be able to command or lav waste ihe whole of Canterbury for the railway would be imimediatelv broken up to prevent volunteers coming from Timaru or Dunedan, or anvwhenei inland This also arvnlies to Aucklamd. Let us look for a moment what the British opinion on this suibiect is Woolwich Arsenal, on the Thames, is only a, few miles from the sea with one of the largest navigable rivers in England passing: close to its doors. It not only turns out small-arm ammunition, but bi«y guns and ammunition for them in fact, all the requirements necessary foi war Why was this nlaced r" such a situation ? Plainly because it was the only place suitable owing to watei carriage and the employment of labour combined with the necessary distance from the great city of London. I

could mention other instances wheie vai material is made in. England, all with water carnage, but space does, not permit . While in Auckland a short time ago I made this matter a special study, and came to the conclusion, that Auckland was the best defended 1 port un the colony, the natural position of the forts helping the defence scheme in eveiy way — in fact, only a fw mines need to be laid ait \\ ar time to make it absolutely impregnable, and the Easter manoeuvres have clinched my opinion, foi they have shown conclusively that two large warships could not land enough men to take the town m*the face of the volunteers and the forts. Whatever the other ports of the colony may he, Auckland is up-to-dinte in its defences. If, instead of advocating the manufacture of ammunition in the South Island, Mr Wigram had advocated' the deoeai-t-ia'li'satiion of ammunition stores' in New Zealand., he would achieve a far greater element of safety, and I am perfectly •ure the whole colony would back tip this oipinian. Depots of, say 1 000,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition, should be established' in many parts of the coilonv in nlaoes readily accessible for distribution bv rail or otherwise. Such depots need not even have a caretaker. They need' be known only to the District Commandant and his adjutant, and the doors could he looked and' seta Jed with the Government seal. They > need be opened only twice a year for inspection b- order of the Commainda.nt of the Forces or the. Defence Minister. A secure buildiner, holding 1,000.000 rounds, would be very inexpensive, a,nd. being 1 so small and little used would cause its existence to be overlooked' by iVie nublilc tWireibv miiirmsinT the risk of an enemy becoming r.os=essed of even a small nuantitv of our ammunition supply If PTnmunition WSLR taken from tbe^e sto 1 es veoirlv for v*e by the volunteer* a con'stq'nt fresh snpnlv conld be sent from Auckland and the full amount kept up.

J. 0. Wiilaaansou runt, his extensive theatrical business at considerable outJay RiMinang expen&es, £3000 a week. • • • Mi&s Nellie Stewait intends to re-ap-pear on the Melbourne stag© m nudOctober,.and is clue m Sydney at Chnstmas. w ♦ • Patta has just netted £42,000 m hard cash from a fooMvmoirbhs.' oancert tour m the United States. And yet Ted Hill will persist m stacking to Wellington . • • • Mis.s Colboniei-Baber, who is wellknown in New Zealand as a singer, has just, lost her husband, Mi . Harrison White. He died m London, -aftei twodays' lJlness. t They have revived ''The Sign of the Cross" with successful results ait Melbourne. Maud Jeffries, as Mereia, is said to be far a/head of both Ada Ferrar and Lillah McCarthy in the rendering as well as in stage presence. The famous tenor, Jean de Reszke, has formed a school at his Paris house, to be called the "Ecole Jean, de Reszke, for the training of professional singers. Tenor Walter Kirby (who was last in Wellington, along with Madinme Melba) will be one of his first pupils. • * * Jack Oarkeek, a nuggety athlete of sft Gin, who is oatch-as-catch-can champion wrastOer of the world', has arrived in Sydney from London, as a vaudeville attraction. He off ems £10 to anyone who can stand against him for a* quarter of an hour in the ring. Here's a chance foir ailil oulr local Sandows. • • ♦ The last 'Fiasco steamer took to Sydney the Tom Nawn Vaudeiviile Company. It includes Mr. Pete Baker, who wah in the colonies twenty-six years ago, and is now the leading "Dutch" comedian of America (wonder if it is the Baker of Baker and Fairren fame) ; the Austins, who are clever jugglers; the ''Musioail Johnstons," noted xylophone performers • Kaifahanne Dahl, lyric soprano , the "Kaawatha ' Troubadours" ; "The Rosebuds," a variety "turn." , and the Holdlsworths, banjoasts and danioeis. » * * Charles Failing, the comer "coon" with the fog-horn voice, has caught on all mght at Home. Writing to a friend hi Wellington by the last mail, he says : — "I suppose if I returned to New Zealand, the young 'uns would say • 'Charlie Faning! Who is he? Was he, in. the biz. over here?' Met an ex-Dunedtin footballer in Birmingham. He thiew a dandy cane and pipe on to the stage for me. Veiy often an Australian or New Zealander turns up, and sends his card lound." ■* f- ■* The London Gaiety Company, which started its colonial career in- Melbourne just a fortnight ago, is said to be the very best Manager Geo. Edwurdes has ever sent out. And the Gaiety plays are no longer "leg shows," but wellsustainieldi musical plays. "The Three Little Maids" are the daughters of a cler<rvman in the country, and are up in London for the first time, and they just want to know, you know. Three Rocietv voune mem take up the contract to teach them. First act opens on the rural golf-links, second act in a London tea-room, thdrd act at n fashionable hon. Result ■ Three flirtations merged in a triple wedding. Theme's a capital song about a miller's daughter. Not the miller's daughter of Winston, bv the way. No, this one resembled the water of the mill-stream in being deep and fast — only more so. Likewise, there wei^ flies on the water, hut none on tihis miller's daughter. Madge Griohton, Delia Mason, Elsa Ryan Maud Hobson. and Messrs. G. P Huntley, Maurice Farkoa, and Edward Carroll aire the principals. You may have hieaird Farkoa on the gramophone. He has. sung into it a few times. • * * Most of the leaders of the "Midsummer Night's Dream" Company dropped into engagements as soon as they sot back to London. Dora Rignold was snapped up by Geo. Edwardes. In fact, she was practically engaged before she reached Home to appear at the Lyric Theatre, in the romantic play, "The Duchess of Dantzig," which is stated to be the best thing musically which has been produoed for a very long time. "Goff" Warren can tell you all about it. Hp received a copy by the last mail, and has been busy ever since .swatting up the airs. Thomas Holding (the Demetrius of the "Dream") was at one© engaged to play Douglas (juvenile lead 1 ), in "Sweet and Twenty," in which the charming and beautiful Mabel Love is leading lady. Dorothy Marsdin, whose "Puck" can't easily be forgotten, was to play Ariel in "The Tempest," at the Shakespearian Festival, Stratford-ori-Avon, in April.