Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1908. DEADLY WEAPONS OF WARFARE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 3 July 1908, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1908. DEADLY WEAPONS OF WARFARE.

THE ANNIHILATION OF DISTANCE. CABLEGRAMS and newspapers havo been cqiicerned lately with marvellous guns and projectiles that either quicktire beyond conception or send missiles a distance beyond ordinary beiief. Among the latest inventions on these lines is the new French quickfirer, which j it ia claimed discharges projectiles at the rale uf -1200 a minute by the utilisation of elfectricity. Then, again,,' Mr • 'Simpson, an Jinglishman, is reported by 'Colonel Maude, a trustworthy witness, - to have invented a gun which would throw a shot 200 miles by means of electricity, and Colonel Maude sub- • sequently declared that these guns were 'light, could be easily transported, and Could be tired by connections made with anjjrdinary electric cable. Now, if it- should bo found possible to adapt j.h_e French quickfirer — invented by M. Puteaaa — to the terrifying weapon ascribed to Mr Simpson, the Englißh ex- . pert in destructive implements of modern war, the effective .fire of a battery , would level to the ground any capital in t the world in considerably less than halfk an-hour. It is possible that, these new and awe-inspiring weapons which are I just beginning to peer balefully at hu. inanity above the horizon of invention I will prove the best defence against military aeronauts. Count Zeppelin's new dirigible balloon, which has just been constructed for Germany, is reported to be 450 feet long, and to have carried eight passengers across Lake Constance at a heigl^-.of •W0 feet, manoeuvripg perfectly. <But such a-monjter, though it might rain -- .-.dowiu,!ex{JWiveß Toil an unprotected ;town, would* bis a'aT^y target for" the electric quicfcfirerj able to- shoot up to any range, and wit£ a rapidity that : would render tbe. escape of the balloon, so long as it remained visible, an impossibility. ' -■• ' • r i .V-.-,,.->. V i--c-?----^ *:■'-' -• - • • - " I - , :It ( s w ell : known tj-at jn Germany and elsewhere research has been devoted to < discovering means whereby projectiles < may be sent rapidly from the-eartb to 1 reach war balloons or airship at a con- 1 siderable height. Experiments havo 1 shown that it is practicable to drop pro- < jectiles through a tuba from aa airship J at almost any elevation, and to counter ' this new horror bf war haa'been the aim I 2 .many,, mihtaty .; invwitors. . It'js » claimed that the tube-projecled miasifes c can be sent with deadly aim; but ' that » »^ ye ?-. lB an r gumption rather than an ■ ever* .&. % ***** question," * XA.- h l ' . de A p,te the and « affirmings of the Hague Coneresß of * oZ nt *-J ght d ? w " war d6 -will constitute f one of the methods .of fighting ih the b ■££. , gr / at . w ?*\ V dichafge be not ■ cirf^f ag ? 1 , n l t tuman immunities, it C ?ertamly. will b e against submarines, 5 which can be seeo easily from the air! f! -But the occupants of the. airship, at tho same time, will be exposed to missiles „ nred from enormous distances away— G such as Mr Simpson's almost nnbelievable invention. "wro* ••'•••. Commenting on the now. borrors of ir war, a contemporary says tliat probably tl !., T^lf h u "°"? 0 ™ Painful to be killed' tl in battle by falling a rijile than to havo ti one s head blown off by. a cannon ball w on terra fu-uia, as at present. But the 0 proßpactivo oatastropho i 8 mora rt 'imn-. Jm l lating to ths imagiijation. It is r aw

soured that only quite yonng men havo "j lerve enough for service in existing sub- ; s narines. And, therefore, it seems pos- 5 < ible that at some date in the futuro \ luman nerves may not be strong enough o man the various machines that in- ' ,-entors continue to devise for tbe de- j itruction of their species. That_ may unit most effectually the potentialities For destruction. On the other hand, the perfection of modern deadly armamehts md their efficient use may put an end to International war. For war under the conditions which invention and the application of electricity are rendering possible may imply not the victory of one nation or another, biit the virtual annihilation of both.