RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 110, 3 February 1938, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current Events (By Kickshaws.) Samoa should not be subjected to old woman government, it is claimed. There are some married men who will endorse the principle at stake. An economist, we note, has arrived / in New Zealand to obtain the opinions of the man-in-the-street. The man-in the-street, we understand, is of the opinion that economists begin at home. A spelling bee has been conducted across the Atlantic between America and England, simultaneously it seems, with a dispelling bee across France between Italy and England, ♦ * * “H.E.K.” writes: —‘"With regard to your very interesting paragraph quoting reminiscences by "Billy Tea," perhaps some of your many readers will be interested to learn that "Piccolo Charlie,’ the flute expert mentioned, was for some years a resident of Levin, living with his second son in that town, until his demise in 1921 at the age of 78 years. We have it in remembrance that he mentioned to his grandchildren the fact that he had been known as ‘Piccolo Charlie’ In his young manhood days—most of which were spent in tlie Lower Hutt. May I add that one son and one grandson are to-day flautists of no mean ability?” Perhaps readers can supply details of other old identities mentioned. A visitor from China declarer that although the Japanese will win all the battles, China will wear her down in the end. Military experts have their own methods of appreciating situations and the like. Counting the monetary costs is not usually taken into consideration. It would appear, however, that an ability to win battles is not the complete essential of beating an enemy. In tlie old days when wars were cheap and were waged by kings out of their wives’ pin money, a victory was a victory, and counted full points. In a boxing contest a knock-out is a knock-out. Possibly if the knock-out came back often enough his opponent would find his gloves wearing out and would have to give in. It would seem, therefore, that some new method of estimating the outcome of a war is required, other than the strictly tactical system of moves and counter-moves. War to-day, after.all. is a whole-time occupation for an entire nation, not a sideshow over the way like a dog-fight. • • • The only thing about war is that there have been so many wars that by now a very complete series of statistics should have been amassed. It is doubtful if the statistics are as complete as they ought to be, because it is very difficult to obtain accurate facts concerning the wear and tear of war on a nation. Nevertheless, we do know that in the Great War it cost £60,000.000.000 to kill 10.000,000 men and wound 20,000,000. We know that despite the energetic manner in which the slaughter was conducted it was found impossible to kill this huge total in under three years, or for ease of calculation let us say 1000 days. Regardless of costs, therefore, it does not appear possible to kill men off in war at a rate very much greater than 10,000 a day. Possibly better and quicker methods will be evolved, because the people of the world are nothing if they are not progressive in the production of weapons of mutual slaughter. Nevertheless, despite machine guns, bombs, poison gas and aeroplanes, it lias been found impractical to kill off more than 400 soldiers an hour. • * « As regards the cost of killing one another in war it is possible to produce some rather surprising figures. As £60.000.000,000 were spent in tlie Great War to kill 10,000,000 healthy individuals a simple sum shows that it cost £6OOO to kill each individual. It is rare of course that such a huge sum is ever spent to save human life. Nevertheless, it appears that we may place the cost of slaughter in war at round about £5OOO a person for ease of calculation. The data may or may not be applicable to the war in Chinn. Nevertheless despite modern improvements on the comparatively out-of-date war of 1914-18 it is doubtful if the war has been placed on a more efficient basis from a costing point of view. Moreover. China is a very large country, extending over thousands of miles. The Great War was waged in a comparatively small area. It was concentrated for the most part in France, making huge concentrations of men and material necessary and thereby assisting in increasing the toll per shell, rifle bullet, and bomb.

The Great War ended when approximately 5.000.000 of the German nation'had been killed. This represents about 10 per cent, of the total population. If we take the Chinese population at 500.000,000 the Japanese will have to kill 50.000,000 of them before the nation will be brought to her knees. It may be that the admitted stoic habits of the orient may produce the requirement of even larger slaughterings. Anyway tlie 1 slaughter of 50.000,000 is going to prove an expensive business, at £5OOO an individual. The total in fact works out at £250,000.000.000. It is a sum of money that the British Empire and tlie United States of America might just afford if they pooled all their wealth. One feels that the Japanese would have to bo given a monopoly in world trade for a century or more before the.v could produce the equivalent of sueli a sum. One may also consider how long it would take to kill this huge total. If we base the answer on the 10.000 a day killed in the Great War a period of 5000 days will be required. This is equivalent to roughly 15 years.

One may well ask if any nation in the world would be prepared to conduct a war for 15 years on end without a pause in the light of the experience of the past. History records no war lasted longer than 100 years, and few that lasted 10 years without a pause. Modern wars are very different and are waged on a far more wasteful scale. It is more than doubtful if man. despite his inventive genius, could continue to make good the wear and tear on armaments used in a modern war lasted 15 years. There are experts who declare that no war will ever last 10 years for that very reason. Japan therefore appears to have embarked on an adventure of which the end is very problematical. Meanwhile, the Great Powers are watching her waste her strength on a sideshow from which she can emerge only that much tlie poorer and perhaps a lot wiser. The Great Powers are slowly building up their armaments so that when Japan has winded herself she will be confronted with something in the world beyond China, stronger than ever. Italy and Germany must also he thinking furiously on the subject. Tiredout boxers are not usually expected to win a first-class fight *