THIRTY-THREE AIRSHIPS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 76, 31 March 1913, Page 5

THIRTY-THREE AIRSHIPS.

NEW AEROPLANE FLEETS FOR ARMY AND NAVY. (Received 10.20 a.m.) BERLIN, March 30. Of the 1.000,000.000 marks raised by the: Army Bill, 79,000,000 are for airships and aeroplanes, in addition to 20,000.000 marks already arranged, and u0.000.0G0 for naval aircraft. By .January next Germany will have 15 first-class and IS second-class airships. The vote for airships from the nonrecurring taxes does not include Bavaria's total of 6,500.000 marks, nor docs it include 1.000.000 which the Government lias given notice will probably be dropped. A sum of 211,000.000 marks will be expended in fortresses, 230,000,000 in barracks. 71,000,000 in artillery. 46,000,000 in the rifle ranges and manoeuvre grounds, 38,000,000 in clothing, 31,000,000 on horses, and 25.000.000 on engineering. The extra £12,000.000 sterling for the war chest will be secured by the issue of paper currency of low denomination, and will be stored in the Julius Tower at Spandau, along with the French indemnity of £6.000,000, which forms the security for the paper.

Already France has over 400 good aircraft, 'Germany 200. France and Germany have each a dozen or more airships, dirigibles. ;ind aer&planefc capa-ble of grappling in the central blue and of offensive operations ngainet each other, or -against an army, or against a fleet beneath them. The Allies in .the Balkans have reaped immeasurable advantage from the information obUun-ed by their airmen circling; over Adrianople in their machines, spying out the position of the Turkish guns, the location of the troops, the constitution of the arsenal and th-e powder magazines: while a French force, beleaguered in the desert ■beyond 'ilogador, hud fought itself to a slandetiH, and was on the point of surrendering to the tribesmen, when an aviator swept over the horizon and carried to them promise of early succour from a rescuing force. On t.he heels of this came the fea-t of a Creek aviator Hying over the Turkish lleet in .the Dardanelles, directing and throwing bombs at them. That lie missed his mark does not much matter. Pra-ctice will remedy the defects of aim n.nd direction, which every airman will be abk> to gauge ia the near future. The military correspondent of the '•Times" wrote last week, that regarding the armaments of Europe, for sea, land, and aerial defence, it is common knowledge that the aim of all the Powers, and of Germany in particular, is to increase, by all possible means, their armed forces, and to have them instantly and constantly ready for war. Judging liv Colonel Seeley's speech in the House of Commons, the Government, declares the "Times" writer, is "quite unconscious of the urgency of the danger, and the probability of our being involved when it comes.' . The attention which Germany has paid to her air-fleet, and the progress made in aviation there, is beyond comparison with Britain's feeble efforts. The Emperor, who hail the wit to concentrate public patriotism on the na\"y in order to obtain a fleet capable of challenging Great Britain, has now transferred public thought to aviation, so that the whole of the Fatherland is watching its development with intense eagerness ami enthusiasm. Every officer in the army who resolves to fly obtains rapid promotion and material benefit. Every civilian who puts his oasll or his labour into airship construction is fairly certain to obtain contracts from the Government sufficient to keep all his hands employed ! and to return him n good interest on the capitnl invested, while for tho-se who excel in tneir command of the air a special I order has 'been created, and a special i bstdjje has been designed by the Emperor himself, so that the German aviator i basks in the sunshine of the Hohenzol--1 lern smile. Tn Germany and in France ! hangars capable of giving storage to a ' very large number of aircraft of differ- ' cut type are dotted fill over the country in strategic positions. Only last month ■ Germany shipped across to Heligoland, and is is building there a wonderful aerodrome in the natural hollow which exists in the centre of that island, and ' from this vantage point, ceded to her by Orent Britain, she will be able to keep perpetual watch upon the cliffs of Dover