NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17828, 8 July 1921, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

WELLINGTON FINANCES.

Commenting on the appeal by the Mayor of Wellington to citizens to pay their rates, or part of the amounts, in advance, the Evening Post saya the inducement to the ratepayer is social service. "As it does not seem to be practicable to offer ajiy other inducement— unless His Worship were to strike a medal as a reward for early payment, and that is not very practicable either— apparently the Mayor's appeal must be allowed to proceed on that basis, and l we hope that it will reach ratepayers who are both able and willing to respond. The more of such ratepayers, the better. But we hope that the note of need sounded by the Mayor will not give rise to the drawing of alarming inferences, which are already too abundant. The Mayor's appeal is in tune with the spirit of social service, but it should be regarded mainly as an interest-saving expedient. If people understand the advisability of keeping down an overdraft on which the interest charge is to be increased to 7 per cent., well and goodAny assumption that the issue is 'cash or crash ' -would be morally hurtful, as well as being quite unfounded."

FREEDOM OF THE SEAS. Writing in the Edinburgh Review Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge shows that it was under a shield of British sea power that the political ideals embodied in the Monroe Doctrine were realised. Britain's fleet, by virtue of its primacy, was a pov, erful factor in the liberation of Latin An: erica, and several little-known instances are given of how the people of South America acknowledged their gratitude. Even Germany, loth as she was to admit it, built up her overseas Empire under the shelter of the British Navy. "This was done, not so much under the disinterested sufference of the British naval primacy as by its virtual support. . . There was more than one country that could have forbidden and prevented German colonial expansion had the British Navy not been available to preserve the peace of the world."

BRITISH AND AMERICAN NAVIES. Admiral Bridge is not alarmed at the efforts of the United States to become the tirst among naval Powers. "The great Republic is not dominated by a 'swordraLtling' clique of militarists aided and abetted by arrogant and aggressive professors," he says. "The United States, taking into account present conditions and resources awaiting aod certain of future development, is the greatest Power in the world. It is natural that the American people should desire to have a navy quate to their true needs." On the otner hand, it is a mistake to assume that the standard of British naval strength can be measured in future solely by the political and commercial interests of the United Kingdom. Admiral Bridge would like to see the term "Navy of Great Britain" abolished, and "Navy of the British Empire substituted for it. In considering future requirements the British naval authorities have to take into account the interests of great nations situated on the other side of the world. What they build will be built as much to protect Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India as the United Kingdom. The fact that the Admiralty has recommended the building of large capital ships proves it to be fully alive to the world-wide character of our naval commitments. Nothing is more certain than that capitad ships would have been omitted from the new programme had our naval advisers had to provide for the defence of British interests only in home seas and the Mediterranean. It is because they have to think in terms of oceans that they favour th 9 construction of the only ships which are capable of guarding effectively the remotest parts of the Empire.

"MERRY ENGLAND." Writing of the Whit Monday holiday, the London Daily Telegraph observed : — We are passing through the greatest industrial crisis which this country has : ever experienced; all the coalmines are idle; trade and industry have, in consequence, been thrown out of gear; two and a-half million men and women who were at work a year ago at high wages, without a shadow on their horizon, are now unemployed. It is true that the country was almost trainless, but the day of the motor-coach, the motor-car, and the motor-cycle has arrived. No one who passed aJong the great arterial roads crowded with motor-cars, who walked by the banks of our bigger rivers, alive with pleasure craft, who strolled dotvn to the sea at a|ny of the popular pleasure resorts, or who sauntered over breezv downs or wandered by country lanes clothed in all the g.ory of early summer, would have found much evidence that this country is dying. It appeared to be very much alive, although many towns which cater for holiday-makers are undoubtedly suffering badly from the consequences of the strike. As a people we have been convicted time and again of invincible optimism. As Lord Fisher was wont to reply fiercely to doleful prophets, " England never dies." Somehow or other we manage to triumph over our difficulties and in yesterday's bright sunshine it would have been a difficult matter to convince the average holiday-maker that a country which had emerged victorious from a world-war, and still looked so briffht and cheerful, was likely to succumb to internal disorders. TERRORS OF FUTURE WAR, Much has been heard recently of tine horrors of future chemical warfare, but. equally if not more terrible results are prophesied from the application of wireless control to aeroplanes, submarines, and torpedoes. Writing in the Review of Reviews, Mr. Denis Gwynn states that French electrical engineers have demonstrated that the military and naval strategy of all countries will within a few years have to reckon with the existence of air fleets not only immeasurably swifter more powerful, and more efficient than any machines used in the last war but. capable of flying under the direction of wireless control exercised at great distances from the scene of their operation. VV hole fleets of wireless aeroplanes capable of carrying great cargoes of nigh explosive or gas shells' could be sent out hour after hour to attack towns or enemy forces It it calculated, for instance, that a fleet of pnly 500 machines, each carrying some scwt. of bombs, could, within 24 hours unload nearly 2000 tons of bombs at anv reasonable distance such as separates the Chief military centres of several of the principal European Powers, whereas the whole French air force managed to discharge an average of less than 20 tons a day over the German lines, even in the dosing monfhs of the war. It is the Americans who have concentrated most successfully on the application of wireless control to naval war. In one demonstration a motor-boat travelling at 23 miles an hour was steered through a crowd of merchant ships at Fort Monroe under the control of an aeroplane flying at 5000 ft. and irom two to five miles away, while the pilot of the aeroplane had no "more diffi- ! cult .y ™ managing the ship &a n would a good pilob on board her. The introduction of torpedoes controlled bv wireless is the worst nightmare of all, and its feasibility has long been proved. Guided from the air and propelled by electricity transmitted bv wireless the torpedoes of the future will not only have an immensely longer range, but will be able to change their direction and follow their victims relentlessly until they 'have tracked them down these are not fantastic conceptions of ex- ' periments which are still bein?; tried Thev i have already been completed demonstrated and their first eucoesses date ■ from tare® yeans ago.