AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 176, 20 April 1908, Page 6

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.

.The most interesting feature of the current military manoguvres, and one of the most useful, was the part which; was taken in them by H. 11.5. Pegasus on Saturday, night. From the account which we print to-day it will be seen that the cruiser contributed very materially to the picturesqueness and the value of the operations by'enabling the forts to obtain some practice under conditions which may .exist if they, are ever called upon to deal vfith an enemy in real earnest. The Peg;asus, which'had steamed into the Straits during the ,afternoon, stole back at 10 p.m. with lights out,, but, failed to' escape the vigilance of 'the patrol boat. In the bombardment that .ensued upon the alarm the , cruiser, liii theory, suffered enormous damap'o, being reduced, it is said, to the condition of a wreck; but we are not told, and no' doubt it would be impossible to say, damage was done to the forts. Excepting that it should be observed that the bombardment must have been abnormally deadly, ,the details of this very interesting, engagement call for no comment. ' Most of the experts appear to be agreed that in the event of war bei tween Great Britain and, another naval Power, the, only danger 'to/New. Zealand will be from raiders. A solitary cruiser, or a small group of cruisers, attended perhaps by sm£)ller vessels— this is what the forts must be prepared to deal,. with. It was made , clear eiiough that a cruiser cannot hope to do very mucli with Wellington 'at close range,; but ■ Saturday night's experience by no means demonstrated the fitness of the forts to deal with, say,' four cruisers', 'a quite possible. raiding, force, wifh long-range guns. The commander of the Pegasus | _to 'be thanked for the assistance which he has given to the operations, for Captain Richardson' has', been piompt in recognising the valuable lessons which the bombardment, provided. Captain. Richardson further expressed the hope that in the; near future 'the navy would be associated with the. military forces in all manccuvres,' and it is a hope which deserves to- be converted into a reality.- The Australian Squadron,'when it visits the New Zealand ports, might so ..time its .visits as to repeat the Pegasus experiment, or, morQ generally, to'operate as a group of the-hostile raiders that may be ex r peeted in time of war.;' The manceuvres would be made infinitely more valuable if,they proceeded, not. on the assumption that the enemy has landed,, but on the assumption that. .war has just been declared 'and the enemy is about to, land. The Volunteers will derive as much profit from learning how to deal with a ;sudden and unexpected attack at. an unpremeditated point by bluejackets as by learning how to deal with the enemy after lie haeffected a, landing and got-some way .inland. The courtesy .of Captain Quayle,. of the 'Pegasus; in lending a hand in the operations should suggest to the authorities the possibility of obtaining the co-operation of the Squadron on a future occasion. '