RED TAPE ABOLISHED.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, 21 January 1908, Page 3

RED TAPE ABOLISHED.

: Vhen Sir Evelyn Wood was a l ag man lie invented an improved ' itary saddle, and sent a specimen jdie War Office for its opinion. '! s opinion he never got, hut years ,r, when Sir Evelyn went to the Office to take up a high post he ind the saddle, pigeonholed—and ..rotten. We do not think this is n way of the War Office now, and ertalnly does not seem to be the ay of the Admiralty. Mr W. E. ilaodonald, the inventor elec,ic apparatus for bot- ; a of the ship wthout dry-docking ,'.r or employing divers, contributes -■ Blackwood’s a lively picture of le zeal, displayed by the Admiralty a encouraging inventors. It is ..rcely necessary to say that such a •trivance, if workable, would be „• immense value. Eoul bottoms one of the causes of the demotion of the Russian fleet which shed off Tsushima for it could ; get up anything like its proper ;,yed. Mr Macdonald’s appliance '■sists of an oblong structure, aed with wire brushes, and looks ■y much like a door-mat. This is hed forwards and backwards by it hawsers, made fast to the Vs steam capstans. It can be e to traverse any path the opera- “ requires. The bristles of the ihes are magnetised, so that they attracted to the ship’s side. Mr cdonald says that the Admiralty lit with him promptly, and the dole company of the battleship on 6ich|the test was made were keen rat the success of the invention, i anticipated having to unravel-i-ds of red tape, but”in ten days he Huved a reply saying that his inHtion would be given a trial on a H:ain date on a certain ship. His fflbess led him to study the Admirllf’s methods, and he is confident Ht it is always ready to recognise Hjj invention possessing good points. (P-iy officers are inventors, and are B| ? ' ys on the look-out for new ideas. ■he dockyards and arsenals every Houragcmaat is given to the workH. to bring forward new ideas ■.’at the machinery they maniate. ‘ ‘ For them there are no B'derous forms of procedure, no apH ation forms to wade through, || , last, but not least, no delay. H ry week a board sits in the dock- ■ ls, composed of experts from the ■ erent branches of work in the ■ -1, who are there to go carefully ■ any fresh idea submitted to Hu by the workmen. The apH ant whose idea is selected as the ■ for the week is immediately Bfl'.’ded a prize in the practical form H money payment, which may, I Hieve, amount to as much as £SO. Hu little to be wondered at, thereHr, that our navy keeps well f .ast of the times, and that the Inal inventor is a reply to the fiCt that his invention has either. I n. tried years ago or else is allay being experimented with.” r