A PICTURE OF WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14691, 27 May 1911, Page 5 (Supplement)

A PICTURE OF WAR.

DESTRUCTION AND BANKRUPTCY.

It is becoming a commonplace that science has made the possibilities of war so frightful that in sheer horror of its consequence the nations will keep the peace. This view of the matter is very forcibly put by Mr. G. H. .Ferris in a volume on "War and .Peace."

Mr. Ferris passes in rapid review the history of war from ancient down to modern times, pointing out the continuous developments of science in the construction of war material of all kinds and their .effects upon nations even in times of peace. The most considerable attempt' to show the effect in actual hostilities of these changes (he remarks) is that of the Polish banker and economist, Jean de Bloch (1836-1902), author of the huge sixvolume work on modern warfare already cited, and founder of the Museum of War and Peace at Lucerne. De Bloch's conclusions were that, as between Powers of nearly equal strength, warfare will in future be a suicidal deadlock, a struggle without possibility of decisive result, and ruinous to both parties that other means of settling international disputes must therefore be found; and that, as these vast armaments are needless for defence and useless for aggression, those who rely upon them are visionaries.

His evidence pointed most clearly to two facts, the first, that the history of war exhibits a gradual removal of combatants to greater distances from each other, so that neither in the better nor the worse qualities it evokes is the struggle what it used to be; the second that science has given great comparative advantages to the defence, in the power, of long-range, quickfiring, rifles and guns (from ten to forty times more effective than those used in 1870 and 1877), and in the new art of entrenchment.

Throughout history earthworks have been used; but earthworks which an enemy could safely approach within two or three hundred paces were a trifling obstacle compared with those of to-day, planned to permit of gradual retirement, and fronted with a fire zone of a thousand yards, across which effective rifle fire can be maintained at the rate of twenty shots a minute. The army of a great State would now be an immensely larger force than ever took the field in the past, con-' sisting of the manhood of a nation, not a mercenary surplus. It ..would be a body of educated men, an army of engineers. Its infantry lines and battery positions would be invisible. The invader must come into the open if he is to accomplish anything; he would find his cavalry useless against entrenched infantry, and would experience a difficulty which would not be experienced by the defence in supplying himself with the very heavy and powerful shells now needed for artillery. Battle in the open would mean annihilation; yet it is only by assault that entrenched positions can be carried. The attacker would be forced to entrench himself ; so the science of the spade reduces battles to sieges, and campaigns become a long deadlock between stationary forces, and a game of hide-and-seek between mobile forces. The spirit of resistance will be encouraged by the fact that a conqueror must make greater sacrifices than the defenders. The volunteer of democracy has proved himself* man for man, a match for the regular soldier, mercenary or conscript. Guerilla fighting will no longer be without order or method ; it will •be scientifically equipped, and moved by a spirit of nationality stronger than ever before known. Railways will be easily destroyed and roads blocked. Warfare will drag on more slowly than ever. The numbers of men and the field of operations will be so large that, the genius of the best generals will be incapable of controlling them. Even with a railway base, an army of 200,000 men cannot move quickly, especially since they cannot any longer live .on the country; and the dispersion necessitated by modern tire makes the direction of such a mass difficult and hazardous. The hey-day of warfare lay in the infancy of firearms, when, with small, mobile armies, a bold and calculating commander could direct quick marches, sudden charges, strategical demonstrations of all kinds. - But this strategy is as dead as Bonaparte. Even a Moltke could not manipulate the European army of to-d,ay. We have little evidence of what the results of conflict between the naval monsters of the twentieth century may be, for the destruction of the Spanish fleets off Santiago and Manila, and of the Russian fleet in the strait of Tsushima, would be better described as battues than battles. But the principles established by De Bloch apply here, with, possibly, greater force, especially since the appearance of four instruments which he did not live to see—wireless telegraphy, the aeroplane, the dirigible balloon, and the marine internal combustion engine. There will be the same choice, for States of neiuly equal strength, between inaction in harbour and annihilation in the open; while (failing an agreement to respect private property) a swarm of privateersmen will destroy tho maritime commerce on which the combatant nations depend. The old conditions of dashing attack and personal valour, all the strategy of Nelson, are gone with the old wooden sailing ships. Half-a-dozen battles would now destroy fleets that have cost hundreds of millions to build, and could not bo speedily replaced. One such convulsion would shake European society to its foundation.

BIG FLOODS IN HAWKE'S BAY: THE NAPIER RAILWAY YARDS UNDER 18 INCHES OF WATER. "* ' . An exceptionally severe rain storm swept the East Coast of the North Island last week, causing numerous floods in the Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay districts, at, Napier, the chief town of tho Hawke's Bay Province, during 24 hours, 5.83 inches of rain fell, of which 4.78 inches descended in seven hours on Thursday last. The condition of the rivers indicated that the fall in the .country was nothing like as :> heavy as' in town, otherwise the position Would have been serious. Nevertheless, a vast area of low-lying land was under water. Owing -to the sewer outlet becoming blocked a great quantity of storm water lay about the low-lying streets of the borough, and in the vicinity of the railway station it lay to a depth of 18 inches. A number of residents had to leave their homes. The streets of Hastings and Gisborne were also flooded, while much damage was caused by slips and submersion in the country districts. • [F. W. Young, photo.