The Daily News. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1916. GERMAN AIR RAIDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 February 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1916. GERMAN AIR RAIDS.

The revival of the Zeppelin and aeroplane raids over Britain and France is causing no little concern, especially as vc have been led to believe that tinBritish Government had taken such steps that it was unlikely any raidi could be carried out with impunity. Xow has come the awakening, for the Germans have made several aerial attacks with success so far as the safety of their craft is concerned. Unfortunately far too many lives have been lost, and though no details of the damage caused are available there is gooil reason to believe it was considerable. The area over which (he latest raids extended was much larger than has hitherto been covered by these marauding and death dealing machines, and, of course, Germany is gloating over the renewal of her diabolical campaign of murdering innocent men, women and children, though the usual boast of having wrecked arsenals and munitions factories looms large for the edification of the Germans, who will not be allowed ■d know the true facts. At this time of the year (mid-winter in Britain),' the long nights and foggy weather render great assistance to the Germans in their air raids, but it was certainly hoped :hat the precautions taken to detect ami either destroy or drive olf liositile aircraft were sufficient. Recent experience shows that Britain is much in the -ame position in this matter as she was twelve months ago. The immunity from damage which has been experienced by the Zeppelins in their late raids will certainly embolden the pilots to take even greater risks, and this menace imposes on the British authorities the need for an effective aerial defence. To the lay mind it would appear feasible to organise what may be termed an air patrol covering the routes which the German aircraft must take to reach the coast line of Britain, much in the same way as the sea is patrolled by naval scouts on the look out for enemy naval craft. If necessary this duty could be divided up into relays. According to Mr. Tennant, the number of British aeroplanoa crossing the enemy lines on the Western front was 1227 as against

310 of the enemy crossing the British lines. Ii; was only recently that the Times' (London) aeronautical correspondent asked: "Why have we not got big engines when we are ahead of the rest of the world in design." That is a very pertinent query. If the German aircraft (Zeppelins or aeroplanes) can travel at one hundred miles an hour, surely Britain should have aircraft that could, if required when chasing hostile craft, attain a speed of 125 miles .per horn-. We do not mean to suggest that either of these speeds are actually probable, hut our point of contention is that Britain should possess aircraft able to rapidly overtake and destroy those of the enemy. The London Daily Mail urges the Government to acquire 25,000 aeroplanes to raid such German towns as Cologne, Uusscldorf, Berlin, ]sssen, and Kiel, and then the enemy would I Mnk twice before making barbarous attacks on British towns if they knew that for every bomb dropped in the London district two would follow on a German city. This suggestion has the appearaneo of an act of vengeance that would bring Britain down to the level of Gorman baseness, and yet some effectual means must he taken to put an end to the evil. Essen, Dusseldorf, and Kiel would certainly be fafr targets for British bombs, but it is a'different matter when towns are concerned that have no military importance. Britain must fight fairly, hence the imperative necessity for systeuiatisiug her aerial service r.o as to effectively defend her towns, and especially London, from enemy air raids.