DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 627, 2 October 1909, Page 12

DEFENCE NOTES.

9 . (Br Ecn&UKt.) Althpxigh th& majority of the racn did not know it, the fact remains, says a correspondent in tho London "Daily Mail," that bullets were Actually fired during tho recent field-work of the Territorial troops on Salisbury Plain, Quito a number of rounds of ball-ammunition were found by the various'units, having fallen out of tho pouches of , the Regulars, who had been a week or two earlier engaged in field firing practice. Every carc was.' taken to ' instruct the recruits as to the'difference'in appearance between live and blank ammunition, and they were ordered to hand over to . the nearest noncommissioned officer any rounds of ball they might,'find. In spite of all precautions, however, several bullets found their way'by, mischance into tho rifles, and were observed to strike the ground near the troops. Happily, no injury was done 'to anybody, Tmt the experiment was a novel one for beginners, and may have had the beneficial result of inducing them to observe their extensions and to ■ take cover with unusual - 'alacrity.'

■The most important British rifle meeting of the year so far as the Regular Army is concerned, 'is the annual Aldershot Command Meeting. It has steadily grown in size and importance from a "two days', meeting with a prizo list of about .£IOO, to a meeting lasting eight days and a prize list valued at over .£llOO. its'extent can be gauged'by the number of entries, there being about eleven thousand in -all, and-ae tho greater ■ part of - the competition's are for teaius, tho actual number of competitors, outside the-unlimited.com--petitions, must run well into twenty thousand: All the competitions are formed with a view of getting the'most practical instructional'.value from, ihein'i ■ so. that totli . onoiexception .the bull's-eye' . target, with - deliberate aiming, which'is the feature of the Bisley gathering, is not'used in any of, them. Instead, figure targets, moving, disappearing, and falling, take its place, and the competitors aro required to fire from trenches, or-from • behind cover, and are given in most cases only a very few seconds in which to. get'off their rounds.—'.'Military Mail." ■ , . ■ '•.. ,- ■ . .

" It is a fact," says General Leonard Wood, the Commanding General of the Department of -the 'East, ■ U.5.A.,, that. .".Germany .has quietly but thoroughly completed preparations for the movement of: an invading army, of 165,000 men. She. has marked out eyory detail down : to: the smallest, article of equipment. Everything is 'in readiness. .The necessary stores'are held in depots at the German seaports, and tho ships .to' be - used as trans-, ports have been eelccted. , All this means that Germany is prepared for an immediate invasion of any foreign country in the event of war. It does not mean that Germany is plan-, ning an invasion of the United States/ but the knowledge of her 'preparedness,"; in combination with' a. realisation of our. ..weakness in const defences, has caused ' the'-War■ ■• Department; serious, thought." '■ ; "",■'■"■'■ " " ■ .'■■••■'-■•■*

On his attention being directed by an , .in? temowet to the. report that' a Gorman inventor was said to be designing an , airship' capable for-use in war,. Mr. Orville Wright enidtliat he did not believe it, nor did he ever' anticipate' that n fleet of airships would over bo utilised'for the'transportation of an invading army. Ho; believed that airships would play an important'part in warfare in tho future, especially in the direction of scouting,' but ; , he pointed ■ out; that objects would' have to be very large to be discovered from an air- 1 ship that was. travelling through the air at a high ratOiOf speed.- .- ;■ ■ ' '~

•i The Paris journal "Matin" says that.one of tho projectiles disohargtd at t the old battleship Jena in tho recent shooting tc6ts put on 6 of the turrets in such a state that, an hour after the shot, the walls were'still rcdhpt from-.thefiro which had broken .ouf, and one 'Couldinq.t approach within,two .yards. "Another ■ shell; , /aimed, at one of the-lower''portions;,i)t : tho(6hipftPulverised.the clectric^ondults:three doofce^Hboye. 1 .'.-It..appears battleiiione of the. higher parts 'of tho battle-; ship; .including, the turrets, would escape total destruction for a quarter l oi.'in'hour - ,'"The'.prd-, jeotilcs;.have: ihe destructive, force expected,', on- the: ;the armoured plates 1 did , not-offcr'all tho resistance .which'had'.boon; .calculated. , .' ~:: ,- >;,.:: ~-. V-..','■'.'■' ,',.'. ; ' According, to the "Englishman's"' Simla correspondent the factories in Kabul (Afghanistan). ,areinow. turning out : quite 'excellent seven-shot.' repeating rides, and these are; being distributed ( aniong the-'.'Afghan; troops at i all their, prih'ci-. pal .military stutions:"; Tho' Aihecr is said' to ;have expressed his keen: satisfaction at: the ,noturo7of" the work -in Kabul srto have raised the pay "of. tho factory, hands 10' per cent., and to have given<them."silver.medals as a mark of'hio pleasure.. Moreover,.there is very little, ;doubtthat Special facilities nro being afforded the proper .Afghan subjects , by means of adjVance.i'and in other ways' to 'arm. theniselvos with fairly good' Avoapons;.and it , is an estnblishod fact :.that,..largoly ,owing to tthe; en-: couragement given to the arms traffic by, the Afghan autlioritics, thq,.border .tribes aro 3toadily arming themsolycs; with n far higher class,.6f..weapon than they .have hitherto pos-. sessojdi, %$. ■:■'■:■>'■ :•:.,- •••.' : ,-- ■.;.'. ■■■'.: /- >;--_-".----.i: .,

' TliVj'de'faulters'of the ICOG "class"..of..Frchch, . conscript,, called up ■. for.: sorvice ..with theYco-louis-.Tn; Ootobor, 1907, weroUGU.-.Thoso .of: the iipoy'ctasa called, up toserve hstOctober, araouritrd,' to the formidable, total.'of- 41,223.; The, total' o? defaulting rcoruits from the big towns/, Paris: Lille, 'Marseilles, etc., has in almost 'overy 'cafy.increased in Bimilfir proportion. 'For the department of the Seine, and in Paris and:the suburbs,' the defaulters in 1907 were 228; in-1908 the number had .risen to.uir.;;/1 ■.'..:■ :,:'?;:■:.. fi .\'- ■ ..'■■■,.■;, .-:

~ Portable-army kitchens have arrived. The need for. some method of providing' troops on the _ march with a hot meal, which experience indicates will bocomo. greatly intensified in our next great, campaign, has led, to many ingenious dovioes'being placed in 'front.of tho military 'authorities)'-but* none has been: of - Buch-,* a practical nature as that which lioutenant and Quartermaster A. .Syltes, Hoyal Irish Fusiliers, * has invented,: This io undoubtedly the highest,' most' efficient, cheapest, and most economical, field kitchen 'existing,: and 'its-., practical . character •." has '■'■ been already/ put to tho .most severe', tests with the ■happiest:, results... It is, in the form of a range,; closed in 60 that no light or; flame is , visible, 'and- burning with suoh intbns'o hoat that ft'h'ot .'meal for,,a. thousand, jnen; can '.be : cooked;,on• tho march in any 6ort of"Weather:in a very short, space of time. Oil is 'the fuel used, but to render it universally useful' Lieutenant Sykes is considerine a: sohemo tov burn coal; wood,: or oil! which Jio .hopes'.'to .bring to perfection. No smoko or smell is emitted - from the oil during the cooking process,. a system. of-, "spray bnrnersl being installed which vaporises the oil beforo reaching the flame, so that the heat is greater and more .widely spread..-' The range weighs a little morothan' half a ton, so .that with its complement of oil, food, and accessories, it does not make morothan a very.light load for two'horses in a general service wagon. Its portability is a great feature, • for it can bo readily lifted out of the wagon and placed on the' ground' to. :cook in camp, ■ or . placed in 'a regimental cookhouse for.-.ordinary use. It bakes, boils, grills, and fry s simultaneously or separately, and its fuel is cheaper thanwqod or ooal. To cook for a battalion for a day with oil at 6d. per gallon,'the. cost comes .out' at about Bs., - whereas a'ton of wood would-. be needed, at a_cost of anything from 10s. to 185.." according to locality. -Only-one .man is needed to look after it, and so simplo is its' mechanism that'a man of, ordinary intclligerjce.-. Trould learn to nse.it after an hour's .exneriinco.'But'the gTSat feature of the whole affair is, the, clever .way in which, the range is. pivotted to ensure'the contents of the'boilers from, being, jolted out , while '.passing, ' over . rough country.'; The . rang* . .is ' balanced ...6n. an axle, longitudinally, so that it .'swings freely,--while each of the boilers is balanced'on a transverse axle,', so that no matter what, angle the cart may assume.in passing over rough, roads or ground; the'contents of the btifers keep a uniform level. To prevent any. splashing; a narrow concave flange, is fitted inside the boilers, whoso contents are protected from- dust and dirt by a tightly-fitting: lid. fixed by a-level movement.. In ; this a small sliding panel is arranged to enable-the cook to stir.or. add to tho ; contents wjthout taking the lid off. . Its value is obvious.. In these days of. extended outpost lines, where it is often impossible for fear of exposing the position to light fires, a, battalion can be supplied with a hot meal at any hour of the day or night. On the march it will cook so that at. any halt on tho road tho troops'can be. supplied with-food or hot tea or coffee. There is 'no delicate meohnnisni'to get out of ordor, the oil being supplied- under, air .pressure to the burners, and the'arrangement is so simple that failure except under gross carelessness is impossible. Its utility in barracks is another great feature, for it will do what the regulation stoves will uot, vi?,., fry a breakfast for a whole regiment in a very short spaco of time. To do this the boilers are lifted'.out, and their plaoes taTt'eh • by-.-hiigei deep, welded-stoer pnns, liver find'baenn,' fish, steaks, , potatoes. 'or onions lieing cooked in' great .'quantities at a time. Uiidonbtedly there Is a' great future before this eminently practical field kitchen, and its valuo has already been recognised by several 'officers' of note, Several commanding Officers hnvo ordered ooe forthwith, and there' will probably bo MTCtal ot'Uuu ii\ um during manoeuvres, ,