BRITAIN PREPARED.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 June 1916, Page 5

BRITAIN PREPARED.

ON LAND AND SEA. A WONDERFUL ENTERTAINMENT. The British forces on land, sea and in the nir are presented most vividly in a lengthy and comprehensive motion picture "Britain Prepared" which attracted a. crowded attendance yesterday afternoon and last evening at the Theatre Royal. It is stated authoritatively that the pictures "were obtained with the special co-operation of the British Admiralty, War Office and Ministry of Munitions. This is plainly evident by the exceptional facilities the photographers availed themselves of. The introductory scenes show the process of recruiting and drilling of volunteers, with bayonet charge practice, cavalry sword drill, etc. Instructive views o-f actual work in the trenches are given, including erecting barbwire entanglements, operating Lewis gans, catapults, and blowing up mines. It is in the making of ammunition that some eye-opening is caused. A tour through the factory of Yiekers, Ltd., is revelation. Every kind of ammunition is turned out, and the work of manufacturing shrapnel shell is particularly interesting. Aerial warfare provides a thrilling episode, the spectators being treated to the spectacle of the ascent of an air fleet and the pursuit of a hostile aeroplane viewed from the pursuing machine at a height of over 5000 ft. There are also exhibitions of bomb-drop-ping and the descent and landing of war aeroplanes. An up-to-date section, the motor-cycle machine-gun battalion, is next dealt with, and the gigantic undertaking of provisioning an army is also capably treated. The British Navy, the pride of every true Britisher, is received in detail from the tiny but deadly submarine to the monster super-Dread-noughts. The warships are displayed at anchor and manoeuvring at sea. As the huge steel walls threw up the spray from the mountainous billows : ii several views of the battleships in the North Sea there were frequent outbursts of applause. The building and launching of a battleship, a trip on a inine-sweeper, a cruise round famous warships, and life on hoard the vessels are attractively visualised. The submarine service is thoroughly overhauled by the camera man, who initiates us into the mysteries of the periscope, a novel view being included through a periscope The now historic Queen Elizabeth, which made a name at Gallipoli, is allotted a chapter to herself, ami was entluisiastiealfy applauded when her big guns were fired. The ''hornets" of the licet, the fast destroyers flying through the waves, and a panorama of British battleships in action, concludes the subject, which occupied the entire programme. The utmost praise is due to the orchestra for the excellence of the musical selections, which were uniformly well chosen. "Britain Prepared" will be shown at Waitara this afternoon at 3 o'clock and again In the evening at 6 p.m., also at Jie Theatre Royal to-night at S o'clock, the season finishing to-inorrow with the usual I Saturday programme.