EMPIRE DEFENCE

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20266, 7 August 1937, Page 7

EMPIRE DEFENCE

SECURITY IN AUSTRALIA. ORGANISATION OF RESOURCES. ACTION IN NEW ZEALAND. United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright. SYDNEY, August 6. The Canberra correspondent of the Sun states that the measures for national security In Australia have advanced by the Commonwealth Defence Council to a stage where, in the event of war, the whole of the resources of the Commonwealth could be organised at a minute’s notice. The council has made a complete survey of all the aspects of industrial transport and other activities and has mapped out a co-ordinated plan to place the nation on a war footing in which each section of the people will have Its duties clearly defined. The Minister of Defence, Sir Archdale Parkhill, announces that similar action has been taken by New Zealand after consultation between the Australian and New Zealand Governments last year, also in London recently. KILLING AIR RAIDB. A WONDERFUL INVENTION. GOOD RESULTS CLAIMED. United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright. (Received Aug. 7, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 6. The Star, referring to Sir Thomas Insklp’s declaration in the House of Commons that Britain has found a means of killing air raids, suggests that the invention of Mr Harry Grindell Mathews has been adopted. The Invention consists of apparatus for firing rockets and carrying parachutes, each equipped with numerous strands of milled wire, with fretsawlike teeth, varying in lengths from 230 to 1000 feet. The parachutes can be released at heights up to 30,000 feet, and would form a plane-proof curtain, as the sharp wire would cut the wings and entangle propellers. Mr Mathews says the apparatus is most mobile, and can be used from any vehicle, from a battleship to a motor-car. The rockets will take only a few minutes to fire, and will reach 30,000 feet in 25 seconds.