The British Navy and Artillery.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 162, 24 July 1886, Page 11

The British Navy and Artillery.

If there beany part of Imperial expenditure in which the colonies may be said to take ♦ direct and personal interest it is that of the naval estimates. The colonies rely on the ability of the navy of England to meet the requirements of her extensive commerce and possessions in time ot war — therefore, its strength and efficiency is a matter of direct concern to them. Only two years ago public attention at home was roused by the publication, in the " Pall Mall Gazette," of some startling revelations as to the concation of the iloyal Navy. It was there conclusively shown that the strength of the navy w&s unequal to its manifold duties, and that whilst these duties had of late years been enormously increased, there had been no corresponding addition to naval expenditure. It was pointed out by the writer that eiuce 186S we had 50,000,000 more over the seas ; that our trade had increased 40 per cent., and that our mercantile marine had increased 30 per cent. Added to these enlarged responsibilities had we -extended our sovereignty in all parts of the world. "Set in 1884, England was spending lees on her navy than in 1868. During this period the navies of other European powers had increased, and there was therefore a marked decline in England's naval superiority. The publication of these statements had some good effect, though the interest and action they excited have languished a little since, but much requires to be done before it can be confidently asserted that the ftoyal Navy is equal to the discharge, in time of war, of the duties that would fall to it in all parts of the world. One of the most serious deficiencies that is not yet made up is inferiority in guns, and this is unfortunately not only an inferiority in number and supply, but in principles of construction. Of the latter defect we have a recent alarming proof in the bursting of one of the Collingwood's 43 ton breech-loaders. About a year ago a 6-inch 4-ton B L. gun, mounted on board H. M. S. Active, blew its muzzle off, and the cause of the accident has never been satisfactorily ascertained. These guns belong to the new type with which they are re- arming, or as it may be said regunning, all the ships. They are manufactured on the Woolwich system, and for their reliability Woolwich ie responsible. So great has been the recent advance in the science of gunnery that it amounts to a revolution. Guns were at first made of cast iron, then of wrought iron, then of wrought iron jackets surrounding an inner steel tube, and now wholly of steel. The Woolwich system consists of an inner steel tube bored out of a solid ingot, with steel boopsshrunkon overit. Someof the heavier fans have a coil of flat steel wire near the reech part. Muzzle-loading guns have given place altogether to breech-loading, and so great is the increase of penetrative power that an 18-ton breech-loader equals a 38 ton muzzle-loader. This is due to the larger charges of powder, and to the greater length of the gun, which give time for the complete combustion of the tshargebeforetheprojectile leaves the muzzle, thus allowing it to have its maximum effect. But whilst gunnery is now termed a science, many of its rules belong to what are vulgarly called mere rule of thumb. The length and shape of projectile ; the weight and size of cartridge ; the telative proportions of each ; and the pressure set up in the gun on the explosion of the charge, are left to be determined more by experiment than by any scientific rules. Of this system Colonel Hope has been the eteady and unflagging opponent, never losing an occasion of warning the authorities of its defects. His warning did not wait long tor proof in the case of the gun on board the Colling wood, for it appears he wrote, only the day before the accident occurred, to the First Lord of the Admiralty, prophesying a breakdown. The seriousness and gravity of the present situation is well set forth in an article in the "Times," which is unusually severe and condemnatory of a system not only unable to supply the demand of the navy for guns, but apparently failing to construct them safely. Considering that the supply of guns is very much behind the requirements, and that one of these larger guns takes nine months to manufacture, it ia very important that the system of construction should be so perfect as not to admit of doubts of its safety. The demoralising effect of untrustworthy guns on those who would have to fight them cannot toe over-estimated. As we in the colony are dependent on home for our supply of gune, and as we have imported and are importing some of the newer type of breech-loaders, the question of their principle has an increased significance for us. The following is the text of Colonef Hope's letter to the First Lord of the Admiralty : — " When a quarter of a century ago, your lordship waa Under-Secretary of State for War, and I was Attache" to her Majesty's Legation at the Hague, I wrote among other^ things, a report very strongly con■demning the original Armstrong gun, and prophesying the loss and capture of her Majesty's ships if armed with it and engaged ■with a serious enemy. After several months your lordship wrote me a long and very kind private letter, personally thanking me for the report, and Baying that ■my arguments had convinced your mind, and had not been adequately met by fche officials of the Ordnance Department, but that nevertheless your lordship was overborne by the weight of official opinion. Ab, a quarter of a century ago, I prophesied the breakdown of the Armstrong gun, so I now prophesy the much more complete and disastrous breakdown of the new steel breech-loading guns, more particularly of tne larger. « natures,' such as the 43-ton, the 68-ton, and the 110-ton.

A man in Toledo, Ohio, . undertook /to swallow twenty-eix raw/egga and a^corre«paoding number of drmKa of wHiaky, but 'died .flbdrtly after the ' t\^enty-Becond .had **>een disposed of. When people learn *that raw eggs are unwholesome ?