THE CHILDREN AND THE MAITAI.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 13 July 1915, Page 4

THE CHILDREN AND THE MAITAI.

""VERY' wisely, the City * Cotvncil' decided to take a poll regarding, the proposed acquisition of certain lands in the' Maitai Valley. We should have .strongly opposed anything being done had the Council been influenced by the erroneous argument that the matter had been decided by the people at the last municipal election. The main, issue is in regard to the bathing-holes, which are required an the interests of the children. No valid argument can be raised against acquiring the bathing holes, •whilst there is. every reason why they should be ob- ' tained for public use. The acquisition of ; the recreation ground is not. vital, but it [ is desirable. This .is where the main question of compensation will come in. and we presume that if the Court fixed a sum the City Council held it unwise to pay, the matter would be dropped. The compensation is „going to be more tha,n some enthusiasts would have the people believe; but the circumstances

nre unique, in that the Council has liberal ■■Government- assistance. «iyl also the financial backing pi - Nelson's benefactor (Mi?. Cawt-liron). ; The view lias ;ilready been expressed in those "columns that we would have preferred seeing soma other areas acquired, where compensation for depreciation of adjoining pro-" perty, apart from the value.of the land taken, would not be so high : 'but the 'fact remains that with -the special assistance to be given the Council, the-opportunity is one the like of which we will probably never seen again.

The King's , visit to _ the fleet is specially interesting- in view of the fact that his Majesty has never lost touch with the sea service, in which he took high qualifications as an executive offieev."" In season and out he has made it his business to watch over the interests of our sailors, and many of the reforms which have been inaugurated of recent years are directly due to his Majesty's personal intervention. He has made himself thoroughly acquainted with every modem development of the service, and has even qualified himself to command a submarine. Gas grenades used by the French have proved more than ordinarily successful. These munitions of wa'r are filled with certain chemicals which, when released, produce a gas that has no deadly effect, but is quite powerful enough to paralyse a- man for several minutes. The smell of the fumes is stated to be not unpleasant; it is suggestive of pear-drops, combined with very strong ammonia, and it produces such violent smarting of the eyes and nose that it would be hopeless to try and use a weapon while under its influence. The preparedness of .the British Ad>miralty is proverbial. The moment that it was ••kiiTOwn. that 'the Germans were using gas in 'the trenches of Flanders it was to the Admiralty that the Government turned for assistance. A million respirators were immediately forthcoming, and were despatched 'to Sir John French. These were, however, found no'b to be as efficacious as w r as desired, and' they -were supplemented■• by another form of" respirator, the ccftton -waste, which was saturated 1 with a solution of carbonate of soda, raind hypo-sulphate of soda), being held in place by a veil. This was the form which was then utilised for the troops, but it has since been suggested that »• helmet such as is -used) by fivemen, which is made of woollen matter, with a tale space for the eyes, the cotton wasle inside, being saturated ■ with the sarne solution, -would be preferable. Br. Hialdiane has beeru authorised to make ■experiments, and if the proposed form be the better it will be installed.

It was recently cabled that a submarine "detector" had been invented which would announce, the presence of an under-water boat in the ■vicinity' of other ships. It appears that Professor Fessenden has submitted such an invention to the Admiralty, and that it is now under test. The professor has for some time been- regarded as an authority on submarine i signalling apparatus, _ and only recently invented a, new oscillator, cf "which much is expected. This, says the "Telegraph," consists of an electromagnet in the shape of, a ring, haying ■approximately a- horseshoe cross-action. The centre of the ring is filled by a 'cylindrical iron armature, except for a. small air gap left all around. Over the surface of the strmature vi coil is wound, one half being clockwise and the other half counter clock-wise. The electro-mag-net and armature are-stationary, and in the air-gap there lies a light copper tube, whiclr is free -to move endwiss. This tube is connected up to a ; diaphragm fixed in the side of the ship. With the electro-magnet energised, an alternating .current is led to the armature winding. This induces a large alternating current, approximating to 10,000 amperes, in the copper tube, • which acordingly is rapidly \driven backwards and forwards about' 1000 times a second, with a force equivalent to a pres- y sure of about two tons. The tc-and-fro vibrations of the copper tube are transmitted to the diaphragm, which generates sound ; waves in the outer water of a periodicity of 500 per second. ' This gives rise to a clear musical no'e. Signalling with the apparatus is carried out by controlling the alternating current with a .suitable key. In submarines, on test, a maximum 'range of six miles has been obtained, and;/with battleships as much as ten miles has been covered.