CORRESPONDENCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume VII, Issue 1305, 12 May 1886, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

A EUROPEAN WAR.

To the Editor of the Star. Sir, — The figures quoted by you in your article on the above subject in today's Star seem to me to be rather out of date and somewhat .misleading, and as this is a matter ot general interest, I take the liberty of giviug some figures of later date than yours. Taking tbe opposing parties as France and Russia on the one side, and Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and Turkey, on the other side, you will see by the following table that the armies of the latter Powers now available for active service outnumber by over 73,000 men those of France and Russia ; while the effective ironclad fleets, instead of being nearly equal, as stated by you, show a balance of 61 vessels as against Russia and France. Men. Standing army, 1885, Franse... 510,333 Russia... 974,771 1,485,104 Men. Standing army, 1885, Germany 445,392 Great Britain 201,905 Italy ... 750,765 Turkey ... 160,517 1,558,479 Ironclads and monitors in commission, 1885 ;— France 9 Russia ... ... ... 88 47 Germany 13 Great Britain 73 Italy 19 Turkey 3 108 The above figuree show the total number of soldiers and ships immediately available for active service, but do not, of course, represent the forces at command of the several Powers. To go into details of all tbe European armaments would, however, take up too much of your space, and I therefore subjoin a short statement which speaks for itself i — Standing army and reserves, 1885 — France 2,423,164 Russia 2,618,300 5,041,464 Germany 2,650,000 Great Britain ... 772,128 Italy 2,119,250 Turkey ..» ... 610,200 6,151,578 This gives France and Russia. 1,1 10,000 men less than the others; The question of the naval forces is so very complex that I shall not attempt to go into it now, but may possibly ask your indulgence on som9 future occasion, -kI am, '#c, A Moabite. May 10, 1886. [We shall be glad to hear further from our correspondent; but we may mention that our figures were taken partly from Whitaker'a AJmanck, 1886, partly from R. Wallace's Bad Times,' pnblished in 1885. Our correspondent can scarcely have more reliable" or much later infoi> mation.— .Ed.] „ '