CYCLISTS IN WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 16, 12 February 1909, Page 4

CYCLISTS IN WAR.

The Daily Telegraph is responsib'" for the statement that cyclists arc the only arm of the Service in which Great (Britain is better supplied than other : nations. The Telegraph, however, thinks that even in Great Britain the use o r ■tho cyclist in war might be developed tind extended, and to (bat end prints a paper on the subject by the adjutant •of a cyclist battalion, read at the X.i tional Service Institution. The popularity of the bicycle in the Army had. he said, increased, and its use in man mivres had proved its great value ■France was making considerable use of •cyclists, Italy during the past year had ■turned several companies of fool Into •wheelmen, and in Belgium large bodies of cyclists bad operated against cavalry Germany was still a long way behinl. owing to the inferiority of the German mi-lime and the fact that the German

- i'iiu-1- was not well adapted for eyelinj*. T'i". paper contained a very interesting enumeration nf flip advantages of '■< ;-vrli-t corps. Tlipv could travel on ail Hvi'i-ii!.'!- i-isglitv mile* a "day. and at tin 1 end uf a ilnv he far less tired tlnni in-iV.-ilrvuicn that had done their twenty mill's or cavalry who had done their forty miles. They did not suffer from -ore feet, their mounts did not set, out of condition, and the longer the cam-nai'.-n lasted the fitter did the awn Veome. When on the move, the cyclist offered a smaller and more difficult tart'i I to hit than the infiintvynia".). and j hi- movcnients were noiseless, lie could earn- three days' rations in his valise, and if he found himself in a place where there was no food, it was no great hardshi|i to him to go a few miles further on to a better neighborhood. Large cyclist units in a sparsely-provisioned area could break U|> into small detachments;, scatter i" search of food, and concentrate again when tliey liml found it. Tt was. said that a cyclist was liable I to be rendered useless by puncture, but anv cyclist worth his pay should be able to mend a .puncture in ten minutes at tho outside. Puncture statistics ev.tendhi£ over several years showed that !>.<j man had a. puncture on the average 3nj 210 miles. / —== / |