"SCRAPPED" FORTUNES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 130, 23 May 1908, Page 4

"SCRAPPED" FORTUNES

The value of the IJriti-h Navy J"*' ll '•>' nwnt citimalc- at i„ w„ r d-, j ( . lluu |,[ take ahm»-t tlie entire \i\ir!y revenue of tin.' Rriti-h n,iijri,j to'replac il. Ot this \.i-i Mini, umu- and tiir<viifi- millinn- v« jirt--»'ul ve->els that are ab>olutWy obsolete. and most t»T the-.. will In. -I rapped and"di>pi;t-ed uf »>' till' e!ld ci lulu.

Ihe-e limine. ~j V e sunn- faint idea uf ll "' <'»'»' -■ ill al.-olately nece-.-ary. wa-te iluit j,.,,'. ~ii in y „ n e depart - ment mir national dclen.-e.

_ And it i. wa-te which is con-t,n;t!v in. reasinj;. J-'ur the past live years uv have spent. ~n im venire. thiamin) yearly on new -hip-, and'verv *OOll we .-hall be scrapping ,dd vessels u vrv nearly the saine v early raie. " A war-hip i- the eostlv 11: i:i■ >in exi-tence to liliild. Vet its lii,. i- ,7nlv about ten year.-. Then, however fenworthy, it i- ob-.,1,.11•. and ii-n-t he , old a- old steel for ic- than a iy.euti»ih of its prime tu-t, „ r ,-1-c hi,.ken up. SmnelimiV we me .-trapl'lllg oil 11 hi roi- -rile. II- wh: II Old v;.,X'ls like the I'I'll 1 .':-] (lie Hero are |x.tunle,l to piece- hv the j-mis of new warships.

The I>elhi-ic u,'.> a five-tliounaml-ton eoas?t-defenve which co:-t ori f, in;ili" about [„ \ m ,| lO lv . boilercd, at a e, . t of a.-,.(iui). A lidiculiius waste of money. lor ihe was already Oh-olete. ainl was never used again. Three years a<ro tliev am hored her olr the Keuii-li Knock as a target, (joodmvs know- what was spent onli-r to fit her for her poumliii" liv the hi" guns of the Maje-tie. She was mail" completes all through with stores ami Her and pumps were all put into proper working order. Eve'i Iwr cabin fittings remained in h.-r, nnd her torpedoes were in her tubes. All tlijg to be demolislh-d in ten minutes by the lyddite t veione poured in by tho great twelve-inch eannon of the Majestic and her sister >liip^! We are always scrapping guns. For their size, guns ar«« even more costly than ships. Vou e.m >pend CI.KXJO or the price of a small palate, on a Mngle piece of modem ordinance. A few seore of shot?, and the nugnilieent wea|)on i* for old iron. A few years ago we removed iu on** fortnight' two hundred obsolete guns from various eoast forts, and replaced them. That cost £450,000. The total co*t of new guns for all our eoast forts was ju>t over a million. Ami m another five years or so all these will be scrapped.

During the Spanish-American war tlie authorities at \\ experimented with a pneumatic dynamite cannon—i gigantic air-gun. which Hung an eighth of a ton of dynamite a distance of 0,000 yards. They were so pleased that they ordered a dozen, at a cost of over £20,00<) each. A little later a method of safely firing high explosives with a powder charge was discovered. The dynamite guns were useless. Vet the contract had Iwen given, so the weapons were one i.y one duly received, paid for, ,lllls receipted, and then! without trial or any Use of them whatsoever, they were broken up and .sold as old metal.

i he same scrapping process goes on everywhere. Thre.» yoars a«u the value of the large locomotive with a big heatin;r area was at last thoruughlv iunferstood by British raihvav eo'mpanie,. Reports of l!)tl7 .-how that, although the railways carried tw-clve million tun J of goods more than in I'MIS. the work was done with IjJOU fewer engines. This mean* that at least 1.200 locomotives, of an average value of C2,.;00 apiece, were scrapped, or otherwise got rid of during that period.

Itut this is nothing to what will happen shortly. Klectrie power must -uper-ede steam in locomotion. It has already done „o in many parts of the I'nitcd States. The Cleat Central of New- has expended tin- almost increilible total of t2ii.iitlO.OllO in converting its haulage power from steam to electric. Ihe ltriti-h railway eonipanics ekep in con-taut use C22,0t1U locomotives. iheir value iV. in round mini-' bers. at lea-t fiftv millions; while as old iron they will not fetch a fiftieth of that sum.

Private tirm- who wish (o keep in the running have to set aside-large and ever-growing fimis against what is called ••depreciation." .Apart from what wears out. new inventions are always rendering older plant obsolete. It U no earthly um* on ami trying to manage. r lhe old imi«t be remorselessly i«cra|»jMHl. and replaced with tin 1 latent niaehinerv.

ib-rr i- an in-t,UKe in jmint. A few years a rrrtain iron and st< k el eon-i-era -penr €4K.non in .wtin? the (inf l "t steam-hammer in existence. Thi> lud har.lly ln«»n *vt to w«>rk when a new hydraulic pres«. invented, and t'-sied by the ronipuny. They found )J did their work and more econ-«niif-al!v. WiMiont t!f hesitation. ilie hnife hamiiicr wont to the i>:-rap ]i'-ap. and the dim t_.ln.noo wa-?-j»«'iit in pnitini: in the ii'-w patent.