NOTE AND COMMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 255, 1 November 1904, Page 2

NOTE AND COMMENT.

Sir Hirain Maxim, one of the foromost authoriNAVAL WARFARE, lira on battleship construction in Great Britain, gave his views to a Central News repi>esentutive a lew weeks ago on the relative performances of tho Russian aiwl .1 apanese fleets, ami on the capacity of moclcrni armour to: withiAand shell lire. "Tlic Russians nro not so good lighters as the Japanese, man for man, and ship for ship," he said, "and I think we may safely reckon that one Japanese ship is as good as nny two Russian, considering the way'they are -handled. But if tho Japanese could go in, and with tho Ms of three battleships, sink the whofe Russian feet, then what would 'happen ? The RusJian Baltic fleet would get to the Far East, and there would he no Japanese fleet to %ht them. All the world lenows ifoat England is building two big foattlesWr« for Japan, hut we are not allowed to deliver them until the conclusion of tho war. The Japanfesc, | however, having lost one battleship, are always keeping a good distance away. They are acting very cauliotmly, and endeavouring to preserve their ships until the Baltic fleet arrives, as, of course, there is a possibility it may •do. But if it does, it is extremely doubtful that the fresh fleet could overpower the Japanese As to modern armour plate, so far tine present war has shown t>h rt t a l '- mour Is proof against the Weavier guns at the distances which have invariably separated the fleets from two to four miles—but if the ships got to close quarters it would l:e quite the reverse. Navnl battles are now so different from the old days when the practice was for every ship to fasten on to its opponent. Nowadays no two ships would remain afloat long at close quarters. It would appear to mo on this side of tho water," continued Sir Hiram, "that tho old French Baying that Neptune is always on the side of the Anglo-Saxon race Is quite true, and I think we shall find that in the lighting in the Far East the Japanese will show themselves 1 as much superior -to their enemies as the AngloSaxon has shown himself superior to tt,u Latin races in the post. I do not see any. reason why Japan will not in the immediajte future becomo tho Oat Britain of the East. Its population- is just about the same as England, Scotland and Iveland—4o.000,000. This war, without the least doubt, will be an epoch-mak-ing event. Hoivtofore, tie Christian nations have hart it all 'to themselves, but in Japan we have a nonCh I'stian nation that is shn-winiT its.'lf superior to its Cl-.ii .t,i,.ji antagonist. The war will make.'us more tolerant as to the lights of the Far Eas'o-n nations, and 'uiill make us allow them to acquire (he same rights there that we clain:e;l for our;elveS."

Th-.tt the census of India for 11)01 has been publishTIIK CENSUS od only l tt lclv, OF INDIA. gives, an idea of the enormity of the task. Tho superintendent of the census says "The greater part of the (numeration was dono without roc 0 ni|«nso by iani army of private Individuals numbering more than a million ui,d a. quarter, who brought to their troublesome task a spirit of painstaking and occasionally grotesque accuracy wh'.ch is unoiiuallod any where in the world. J n one province it wus very diflicult to number a certain assemblage of ascetics, because they were under vows of silence. In Rajputanu the Bhils have ancient claims to ' be exempt from ansus. But their head men were Impressed by the practical argument that there 'would be no food ut the next famine for people who were not enumerated.' At Port Campbell tlie census-takers were utlackcd by the implacably hostile J u rawas of South Andaman Islam!, in the Bay oi Bengal, and wore compel,', 1.1 tn> to line* o;n thair utss-ail-ants. TI:o result was that there was one less ,Jar a wa to be counted. The eninues.itors \discovcrcd nn unknown trite, tho Tnbo, of South Andaman. Tl ere were few of these because a short time iefore a, co'iitagiioiis disease ha;r spread uniting them, and they had killed o li carefully all whom it attacked. The census proves that in 1901 the 1,254,01.2 square miles of the Indian Kmpiie had n population of 117,458,19.'!. Of these the Christians minibttr 2,1)2:1,211, of whom 2,(v(M,:ii:-i are natives. Of these hitb.r two-fifths are Roman Catholics. In 1872 the Christians numbered 1,506,095, of whom 1,248,288 were natives. So the growth of Christianity is far more rapid than that of the igeneral population.