THE GREATEST OF GUNS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 148, 13 June 1908, Page 4

THE GREATEST OF GUNS

ABOUT THE NEW WEAPON" WHICH KILLS AT IUD .MILES. What will the next great war lie like? Xo one can »ay; but one important feature of it will undoubtedly be a new weapon which is stated to lie capable of throwing a projectile any distance up to, ami even more than, Km mile.-.. This would mean that any foreign Power possessing such a gun, and desirous of attacking England, could land at an unguarded part of the coastsuch as somewhere in Wales or Coinwall—and at once proceed to bombard Ivomlon, without coining any nearer. Once London had fallen, the great cities of the -Midlands and the North of England could be forced to capitulate to an enemy they had not yet seen. Nay, even Edinburgh and tilasgow might lie taken without the captors leaving London. till the other hand, if the gun, which is of British invention, were in British hands, what would happen? Take a purely imaginary case. The army could bombard Paris without leaving England. This, combined witli an organised attack on the principal polls by our nav.v, would inevitably bring us victory. That the weapon is practicable is proved by the following statement, made ill the cour.se of an article in the Contemporary Review, by Colonel 1". N. .Maude, C.8., who is one of our greatest, authorities on all matters pertaining to warfare. He says: " I have never known of so important and revolutionary an invention as the new electric gun and projectile designed by Mr. Simpson. I have examined the model, and the whole principle involved, and do not hesitate to say that the practical results claimed by the inventor are certain to be realised.'' Air. W. S. Simpson, of London, a civil engineer by profession, and a metallurgist and scientist by inclination, is the inventor of this latest destroyer of space and men. When a representative of "Answers'' called at this gentleman's office, lie found a man of years, whose accent proclaimed his Scottish birth. "My weapon," he said, in answer to a question, •' is totally different in appearance from all 'present cannon. Even the projectile it throws is unlike the present shell. .More than that. I cannot, for obvious reasons, tell you until the official trials have taken place." "How is it for handling? Js it easily manipulated V asked the interviewer. "Well, it is large, but very easv to manage. Picture for yourself the'possibilities of a gun which will send a bullet alternately 100 yards or 100 miles, at the will of the" operator, and which will fire innumerable shots a minute. Worked by electricity, the weapon is "noiseless, smokeless, and smell-less. Of course, when it is required for use, the operator must see to it that there is a good supplv of electricity at hand. That is all that U necessary.'' " Would it not be possible," suggested the representative, "to use ether waves for transmitting the electricity':" "tjuitc impossible," was the emphatic reply. "After all, the principle of wireless electricity has its limits. It would be simple to send an electric ray through the upper atmosphere; but, then, it would be equally simple for modern science to devise a canopy of insulation which would effectively nullify this."

"There is another point," was the inquisitor's remark. " How about the ' life ' of your weaponT" •'There is practically no limit to it," replied Mr. Simpson. " Modern cannon, iu spite of the high quality of the slc-i used, arc soon worn out, and require nliiiing. But it is not so with the new gun. By reason of its construction am! method of firing, this difficulty is done away with. The weapon's 'life' is almost endless, excepting so far as wear and tear of ordinary machinery goes." "Then, as to the sighting of your weapon?" asked the visitor. " When you are handling a gun which lircs a projectile at the rate or oO.nonft. a second, the sighting is simple. )on • merely aim it, and tin—and you can' 1 , miss. There is no need, as is the case with present guns, to make allowances for atmospheric or other conditions. Tieprojectile goes in a dead straight line. Of course, the object aimed at might be invisible. An oX|ktl could, however, with my weapon, easily j;et within a yard or so of his object, even al a distance ol 100 miles."

"So your weapon is nut all'cctcd by any ijin-ntiuii of range'; A slight. diS'riencc from old times, isn't it, Mr. Simpson, when the cannon were hampered Uy their short range;" • "Yes," was the reply. "(If course, you know the story of how Napoleon killed his great rival. Moreau. Th» former was walking about among his troops, and noticed in the enemy's lines a group of generals and other Olivers Turning, to a gunner, he said: 'Drop a few shots among those ollieers.' JJui the first ball was successful, and Moreau fell. In that instance the target was plainly visible. "Nowadays, of course, firing has al- , most reached its highest standard. Hut is it possible that it can go further, under the system now in use? The present revolution is a comparison between the rushlight and the electric light. The rushlight is a beautifully simple method of obtaining light, bill, you require such a lot of them. So it is witli c.nmon. Due reauy good piece ill expert hands is worth any number of others."

Air. Simpson is a most interesting talker, lie was a student under the late Lord Kelvin and Professor Alaei|iioi'ue ltankin. About the former he U-Ils a striking incident. "Do you know/' he said, "that a Dundee .schoolmaster named Lindsay sent wireless messages across the Kivcr lay ul the British Association meeting in ISIj, at Dundee'/ The system lie invented was placed for consideration before Lord Kelvin, then Professor Thompson, who pronounced it to be 'a beautiful scheme, aud the dream of a schemer.' How far lie, great electrician as he was. was wrong time has shown.'' Then the representative bade goodaflcrnoon to the man who lias jtisl invented a machine which will, by ns very dcadliuess. revolutionise war. Or may it nut be that tlii, formidable weapon will help to bring about the prophecy that some day wc "shall hang the trumpet on the wall, and study war no more'";