Rangitikei Advocate TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1908 EDITORIAL ROTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9103, 24 March 1908, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1908 EDITORIAL ROTES.

THOUGH air ships have not yet, as they may one day, become as common as bicycles or motor-cars, there seems no doubt that they will play a great part in any war which takes place. In a recent lecture before the Society cf Arts, Mr Gaudron said that groat things could he done with war /balloons. For example, it would not bo difficult to send 100 balloons in one day from London to the Continent, carrying a total of 5,000 men, and the cost of the undertaking would not be great, say, about £60,000. It might be asked what would bo tho good of sending 5,000 men. But he merely mentioned this as an example; the 5.000 men could be reduced to SOO, sar, 100 aeronauts, one to each balloon, and 200 officers, and the remaining lifting power could be taken np with ammunition. There was ample coal gas in London to fill all these balloons in one day, and tho only difficulty would bo to find ICO practical aeronauts to take charge of tho aerostats. That good use could bo mada of balloons at times was proved during tho siege of Paris in 1870 and 1871, when 65 balloons carried 161 passengers, some 35,0001 b or postal material, representing about 3.500.000 messages, and 831 pigeons, which carried nearly 100,000 messages and telegrams. Turning to dirigible balloons, tho lecturer said that with a dirigible balloon it was possible to take up a motor that would work well, and to carry fuel for it. The Lebaudy airship had probably done more than COO voyages, tho longest, he believed, being of 170 miles, and had proved its . 1 •!li ty of gliding through a fairly ■ wind, and cf carrying as ....my as seven passengers. Tho airship would certainly play a groat part in future European wars, and tho fact that it had its limitations should net blind us to its capeity. Tho construction of 100 airships would cost loss than a first-class battleship, and. in bis opinion, could bo relied upon to do far more damage. Of course the capacity to carry and discharge explosives was strictly limited. It was no easy matter to throw shells on a small target from a height of 3,000fb or 4,0001!:; yet it was necessary to keep at such an altitude to keep out of range of the enemy’s guns. Probably this difficulty could be solved by lowering the ammunition to the end of a wire hanging 2,000 ft or 3,000 ft below the balloon, and releasing it electrically immediately over the desired spot. Imagine the destruction that would result by a 1001 b dynamite shell falling on a battleship ! In his opinion there would soon bo a keen contest between the Powers to build airships just as there was now to build marine ships.

ORE of the most satisfactory features in connection with the British navy is the very great improvement which has been made in recent years in the practice of gunnery. A return of the results of the gunlayers’ test during the year 1907 was issued six weeks ago and the figures show wonderful advance on those of three years ago. In 1904 the number of misses exceeded the hits, and only 43 per cent of the shots fired hit the target. Gradually the accuracy of fire has been increased, the size of the target has been reduced and the time allowed for each shot diminished. Comparing the last two years it appears that whereas in 1906 1,073 guns fired 8,061 rounds, making 5,738 hits, in 1907 1,365 guns fired 9,538 rounds making 7,547 hits, on similar targets, the excess of hits over misses rising from 8,405 to 5,556, while the percentages of hits to rounds fired rose from 71.13 to 79.18. Even on the 1907 target, of much smaller area, the excess of misses over hits was not as much as was the case with the larger target in 1904, and the percentage of hits to rounds fired is 43.70.