BUSY DOGKYARDS AND ARSENALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 141, 9 November 1914, Page 6

BUSY DOGKYARDS AND ARSENALS.

MAKING THINGS TO SURPRISE THE I KAISER. ) (Wellington Times' Correspondent.) London, September 25. Perhaps it is superflous to tell you ! that in London and throughout the rest ! of these isles the one engrossing topic continues to be the war. But we are i settling down to the pro-occupation of ; "the strong terrific game," rather amaz- . ingly. Almost the only thing people talk about is the war. let the normal business of the nation neither languishes nor is neglected. The astonishing thing is really how small an upset has taken place in our humdrum affairs Here j is the British Empire up against the I thing that ever has or possibly ; ever could happen to it. . Tremendous j exertions are being made to maintain ; 171111 men and supplies our forces, now ■ %hting by blood and field to weld into ; a tempered weapon the new grand army | Kitchener has called for, and of which more than half a million men have now 1 been secured by enlistment in this coun- ! try alone, and to turn out this vast equipment they require and the wast-

age of war demands. All our dockyards and arsenals are busy hives of industry in these days, and in these nights, too, for that matter, for work goes on without break night and day. We are building battleships and cruisers and submarines at least two to one against the Germans, probably three *to one. Rifles are being made at what used to be be about double the weekly maximum, contemplated as possible. And in particular is the forging of big guns proceeding. The Germans have had the pull hitherto in heavy artillery, practically field siege artillery, and in machine guns We are going to alter all that pretty soon. The new pattern of light " Maxim, weighing about half the old weapon, will soon be available in abundance, ami the Germans are only making the ac quaintance in France of the 4.7 in. guns of the naval type, manned by garrison artu'erymen, which are more than equal to their own heavy ordnance. And then; are plenty more, or very soon will be, where those came, from] The mtsten of Uie German 1-8-in guns that crumpled v.p r.iego and Namur and the other fort-i on the way to Paris has now been solved. For the hauling of these guns, the »>rrmans are using twenty-six traction engines, of a British make, by the wa.\ and are apparently making' huge collections of all kinds of bam ! :, with the staves of which they lay a carpet for ti;ose stately moiiarchs.

"SCUM" THAT WILL RISE—TO THE OCCASION. Without in the least underrating the fury and duration of tile struggle on wiiii'ii we have hud to caibark, everv h .'.y is quietly cocksure 01 lite rcauit. We shall soou have at Jmuv 3uj,i)oi> me;) at Uio /rout with Sir ,)w.a l-'ivnch well equipped in every detail, including those particular details 1 have aiesitioned ill ivhieh the Germans rather stole a march al tiie beginning. The gaiiant laus from oveiscas, the Canadians, the Auatraiasians the native Indian ligitUr,-;, and who knowb, perhaps some South Africans, vet. wll be taking their place in the ligi'liiig line without mucn delay, and Ihe meadows of Eng>au,i, the valleys of Wale;:, the glen* of Scotland, and til.-

SH.ca fields of Ireland arc at this noincut vt'y alive with tho grim and bu.i. me-s-jd'e drili'mg of the finest manhood Wi; j.uesess. Tiicro need be no double about the new army, iiy the time it in drafted across the Channel, it will In; u lighting machine fit to challenge comparison with tlic past traintioiis ,i.<d present exploits of our little British army in the field. If tliere are any of the famous llrandenburgers left by then, which is bj' no means certain, they will get all the fighting they want when they meet Kitchener's men. The Kaiser has called tlmm "seinn." He will find his description true in one respect. They will come cut on top. Little neec'. be said about the genera! aspects of the war. Our men are in splendid spirits *)i'i in good humor. In this respect i, le French people have come to the conclusion that all these centuries they have mistaken the British temperament, lien, who take their fighting so gaily, they think, cannot possibly take their pleasurea so sadly as the old caiuinny pretends. IThus wo find tiie Paris correspondent of the Times writing of our men: "Their gaiety and good humor fill tile country roads with r*.n;; and ia'ijht'.;r, in contrast with t!:c p'i.n spirit of tne I'rcneh." This :<_/;i;ialmost topsv-tmvy, but it is quite true. Tommy'Atkinn is a standing rrb'.'.ke to tiii>"e feeble, anae:nie souls at home, fortunately a very small and diminishing band, who indite jeremiads because everybody forsooth does not try to look as mi-cr-al'le as they think they ought to be. In this war the soidier'is his own war correspondent. The letters,' from the front, whether from France or from the -North yen, anil the men who have come home invalided, all tell the same tale. The French may be a little more grim than our men and a shade less light-hearted, seeing that they are fighting amid ruins of their oiv-e fair and smiling country. Jsut the.)* are jighting desperately, valiantly, ami well. F.very week helps to stiffen and harden tin; huge French armies in the field, v. he ;e necessarily large proportion of reservists were & little soft and out of condition at first. The 8,111)0 thing applies to the .Germans, of course, but not to the same extent. So far as the hind campaign goes, sooner or later the (iernmus will have to fight on their own soil, and against considerable odds, both east and west. The military opinion here i.> that a. month at the outside will see this phase of the war well developed. This will involve a fatal division of forces, anil an equally fata! duplication of losses. The Germans will have to divide their energies and double their expenditure. They cannot possibly hope to win through under such conditions,. will be worn down irresistibly. It will be interesting to see how that other unknown factor of modern warfare and German polities develops. Ilov,* long will Germany be able to stand the racket in the economic sen e? Tier people have been fed with roseate'lies. Wlij'n the bard fact conies home to them, and they realise the grim romance of the Cossack and the ■L.i On the hearth, the Kaiser's enthusiastic subjects may become a little restive.