WAR NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 74, 17 August 1914, Page 3

WAR NOTES

BOER WAR CONTINGENTS. WHAT THE EMPIRE DID. According to the Colonial Office's report tins colonial contingents and contributions m connection with the Boer war were as follows:

NEW ZEALAND'S NAVY.

1 The two vessels which comprise New - Zealand's tiny navy, the Philomel and r the Amokura, may not he very formidable, but they burned powder to some i effect in their day and generation, and 1 liave earned a claim, to respect as war ) veterans of the sea. Few New Zealand- - ers probably remember that the Amot kuna, long before her conversion into a a training ship for New Zealand, was ; on active service on the coast of South i Africa, in company with the Philomel. - Tihis was in 1896, when the Amokura ,- was known at the Sparrow, a third- ; class gunboat. She was one of the small , squadron ef British warships which » bombarded Zanzibar and tho Sultan's . man-'o-war, the Glasgow, and forced the claimant to the throne, Sayid Khalid, to haul down his flag. The Sparrow's consorts were the St, George, Racoon, ; Philomel, and Thrush. There was quite a pretty little battle in Zanzibar harbor, but a one-sided one; for the Glasgow, which had opened fire on the St. George, was silenced in half-an-hour, and went down, after her wounded had been taken off. The St. George gave her several shells from hex six-inch stern gun, the Philomel .planted a shell right in her bows, and the little Racoon sent along a shell which cleared her decks. i Meanwhile the Sparrow had been doing good practice with her 4-inch guns at tlhe Palace towers, and sent shell after shell in with great accuracy. The fire was answered from tho Palace and . the landing pier. The bombardment I j lasted a little over half-an-hour, by | wdiich time tho Palace was in rather j a ruinous condition. The usurper was captured, and his force disarmed, and the rightful heir to the Sultanate was j proclaimed, with all due ceremony from' J the Fleet. The bluejackets escaped anv j hurt; indeed, it was, from their point j of view, a very pleasant morning's dill version. The Philomel afterwards did J some smart work in suppressing gun- ; running in the Persian Gulf. The Sparrow bears a prouder name these days, for Amokura means Tropic Bird. She. still mounts a couple of the .4-inch pieces w%ich played on the East African potentate's palace towers this dav eighteen years ago, and with them Captain Hooper has given soma scores of young New Zealandeiy an elementary training in naval gunnery.

GERMANY'S WAR PLANS. 1 If the report be true that plans found on a Uhlan show that the Germans expected to reach Brussels on August ;i and Lille on August o, it is apparent that Germany reckoned with but slight opposition frcm Belgium. On the Jsi iiist. Germany declared war on Russia and immediately violated the iieuimlitv of Luxemburg, and sent a force the French frontier. On the 4ih inst. a slate of war wa s declared to exist, between Britain and Germany, and on the same day the French Aitmbasxidur in Berlin and the German Ambassador 'in Paris were recalled, it was on the 'fcllowing day, according to the report, that the Germans expected to be at Lille. It may be taken for granted that rapid movement was a factor in the German plans. A German general said not fang ago:—'if the Engli.-h are not in AmV.v.rp within the, first live days of the way they will never b" in it.'' Ho estimated that it would take the German Army two days to gc; to Antwerp, .he chief conin;e''eial city and seaport of Belgium, and throe days w> lake Antwerp. That would mean one o'. two things—ei. her that Germany w-i.uld ineude South Belgium, i smash through the Liegc-Nanmr defences lined along the River Mouse, and penetrate the intervening tountrc. about 60 .utiles ;ts the cnv.v dies, to Ani'voerp: or else violate Holland's, a-o well as Belgium's neutrality, and, n.arching through Holland, reach Antwerp by a route 'yiug liorib of ihe f.-iep-Nauiiir line. Whichever way tin German general proposed to go be was .lohig to do the marching part in tw-o days, and on the wixtli day the British expediI'.onnry force was to fed tile Antwerp gnus 'earned a gain -I itself by the victorious 'Germans. ISOLATION OK GERMANY. The tnu'.V illation of (hrinnuv v.k (he keynote of an iulerview, attributed to -a- prominent Gontinetrinl which appeared recently i:i a:i linglish i.agazine. "Yon as?; "me io e' : ve von the kev of ihe international f ituiit.io'i. That. Lev is in Germany, or rather, in Heriiu. For Prussia control; Germany, j and will more and more control it m 1 tli" future. The Gei-rivuM ar> nervous ' and uu'-tsy. an.i I,'ia.f is why they vea*>lesslv increase their iirmauieii.'.s. 'i hev are iiLvvniK heeanse the who 1 ,- hhiroposn situation has been rcdhe'ly eluMged. t" {heir detrimetic. The whole balance of power has be-,] upset by the results or inanv ilr''ti:m'friend's. ni> allh'". ii.nd has. ! i,..; : 1 .f0.re. | to d.ntt! o:i yth'-oy can count iiellln r on Italy nor on Aiv<- ! "Itaiv is a hopeless coyindte. and sin | Itausfsr, her c"rnt'. alfe-ei'ins wiieVe- , ~V e r her iv.lercst i"ad; her. Nov can • iutr ihe siiisaitl of Hus.ia. i : '«- U J.--i best organised army i;i ihe 'lalaans.''

Colony. No. Men. Expenditun Canada 8400 £020,000 Now South Wales 6208 330,102 Victoria 38»7 281,327 Queensland 2903 203,3-27 South Australia .. 1404 82,fifiS Western Australia 1165 61,840 Tasmania . 708 38,393 New Zealand GOOO 334,000 Totals 30,863 £1,859,218