TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 31 December 1910, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Thy fact that some twenty-five or thirty aviators have been 1910 in the killed during the year Air. which i s now closing, does not seem in the least to damp the ardour of fellowaviators. It" was only the other day that, Mr. Grahame Whiie predicted that before loner aeronauts will he able '.<■ tiv in all winds except gales. In his opinion remarkable strides in flying will be made during the coining year, and when tho results achieved during 1910 arc kept in view it seems advisable to p'-eserve an ooen mind. In the last twelve months" although little progress has been made with the dirigible, the aeroplane has been advanced many stages .and hag even proved its value in warfare. Knowledge of the air. its currents, its waves., it whirlpools, and its varying pressures, have yet to bilearned, for at present they cannot be detected until the unfortunate aviator is in the midst of them. In the opinion of Grahame White, and others, it is iii increased speed that the best means for combatting these difficulties lies. A 50-horse-power aeroplane has proved its ability to travel against a wind of thirtyfive miles an hour, and it is contended that the new 100 horse-power machines will overcome the resistance o£ a wind of fifty miles an hour. To Latham, when at Doncaster in an Antionette monoplane, with bird-like ease, he beat up against a gale of 45 miles an hour, and sailed down it like an albatross ,is due the greatest exhibition of mastery of the flying machine for, the year just closing.

Of orofound interest to the entire medical world is the reMedical cent great discovery Discovery. of Professor Ehrlich. It is no\. too much to say. if scientists are to be believed, that this discovery is likely to rival the work of Jenner on smallpox. Professor Ehrlich has for many years devoted himself exclusively to the study of what he calls chemotherapy. The principle of chemotherapy is the discovery of drugs which are capable of killing organisms that produce a disease the drugs being non-toxic in that dose which cause their complete destruction. i In other words the problem is to find a drug whose therapeutic dose is a small fraction of" its live one. The Ehrlich-Hata remedy, 'Or '6o6,'' is a chemical substance in the form of a |, yellow powder of a highly insoluble na!ture combined with an organic radicle, and is administered by means of injection. The disease for which this substance ha s been found specific is one i of the oldest, and the history of its dissemination throughout Europe from the East is of extraordinary interest to the student. Hitherto mercurial compounds have been the only cure, and, though unquestionably they have . been proved specific, "remedies'," continue to crop up even years after the primary injection in spite of the best radicle treatment. -

'What a pacadox it is!" exclaimed the British Prime Min-

Whyisiitso? ister, Mr. Asquith. in his Guildhall speech last month; "the greatest, and in pome ways- I' think the most tragic paradox of our time, that in almost every great country : in turn one of the most prominent topics of Parliamentary debate is increased expenditure upon armaments." It is interesting to go briefly into the matter. In fourteen year s Great Britain's naval expenditure tias doubled. It has risen from under £20,000,000 a year to nearly £40,000,000 and in spite "of this- stupendous increase, the British Navy is barely maintaining!—many competent experts declare that it is losing—it s old relative superiority among the navies of the woild. Foreign naval expenditure has gvo'wi: at no less,a rate, and.we now havj, thr four most advanced nations —the Bijtichthe -German; the French and the American—spending together from £9o,o*o.OiXto £100.000,000 a year on fleets, lksidesabout £126,000,000 on their armies, or a grand total of well over £2OO,<JOO,OOC a year on armaments. So astounding i f the progress of mechanical scienCo in its applicationto naval armaments that even a!£2,000,000-ship may be outclassed and all but obsolete a few years after it has been completed. It may even have become obsolete before it is commissioned. In new British battleships a gun of 13.5 inch; throwing a shell of 1,2501b., is nowbeing mounted—'an immense advance upon the 12-inch Dreadnought gun >vith its shell of only 8501b. A 14-inch gun has been manufactured, and has passed :t s tests in the United iStates. And so the race continues. Where is the finishing point to be? -

In view of the fact that compulsory military training will shortCompulsory ly be in operaticn in Military New Zealand a nd that Training a somewhat similar system comes into fore-; in the Commonwealth as from M on-J ay next, it is of interest to observe prutty what Australians intend doing Sn t.ijs important raattev. The introduction of the system will proceed by four definii s steps, and eventually attain the ne"> organisation proposed by the Common wealth Government. The first stage wil occupy the first six months of the coming year, during which period the existing junior and senior cadet forces will continue. By 30th June,, howevec, all equipment will be called in. In the meantime the area officers will busy themselves with the work of registration, inspection, and medical examination of lads, whose fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth birthdays oocur in the year 1911. During the period allotted to' the second stage, viz., from July, 1911, to June, 1912, the training ai»d equipment _of/ the new senior cadet force, estimated, roughly, at 100,000, will be conducted, while during the third stage, which takes in the period from July, 1912, to June, 1913, the clothing, equipment, and training of cadets eligible for inclusion in the citizen fooos, estimated at 20,000, will occupy att ? i tion. The fourth stage, taking in tin. period after 13th July, will be devoted to the continuation of recruit training of the citizen forces, and the Tew ocga.i s.ition of the citizen forces, including the old and new personnel, will commence on Ist July, 1913. The junior cadets will do not more than 120 hours training in the year. The senior will do manual and fvring exercises, mu_];;ti'y and physical exercise. The area officerswho will command them were advised, at the recent camp of instruction which they attended, not to work the boys too hard at first. There will, however, evidently be plent v of hard work later on for as-citizen soldiers they will be expected to withstand severe tests, and each man will be required if called upon "to march twenty miles a day six days a week, carrying a weight of 601b5., including equipment, rifle, ammunition,' food and so forth." The task is a big one, but officers of expedience are to put the system into effect, and troubles are not expected. New Zealand, byelose observation may learn many useful lessons.