OUR DEFENCES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8634, 25 October 1889, Page 3

OUR DEFENCES.

INSPECTION BY GENERAL EDWARDS.

General Edwards arrived in town last night by the express .train from the North. He was accompanied by the Hon. Thomas Fergus, Lieutenant-colonel Hume, Major Douglas, Mr A. D. Bell (defence engineer), and Mr W.N. Blair. A number of the armed constabulary, from Wellington, also came by the same train. They are sent down to assist in the arrangement of tho armament court at the exhibition.

This morning General Edwards and the Hon. Thomas Fergus pay a visit of inspection to the defence works at the heads. They will leave Dunedin by the s.g. Plucky, at 9 a.m. At halfpast 5 in the afternoon the general will inspect the cavalry at Tahuna Park.

Ou Saturday General Edwards will inspect the volunteer forces. These are to muster at the Garrhon Hall between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon. They will then bo marched out to the neighbourhood of Tahuna'Park, where the inspection will take place at 4 30. In addition to the general inspection there will be an inspection of the cadets at noon, so as to allow thoie from the country, of whom there will be a large number, to return by the 420 train. The couutry corps will return home by a special train, leaving Dunediu between 10 and 11 p.m. THE DANGKR OF INVASION. General Edwards was interviewed at Christchurch by a representative of the Lyttelton Times, but he did not vouch his interviewer a great deal of information. Some reference was, however, made to the danger of invasion, and we make the following extract from this part of the interview.: —

Tho general talks of the danger of having 5000 men landed in some part of these islands.

five thousand men ! 13 it possible to move a force that size such a distance ?

" Nothing easier. Two steamers of the MesBageries Maritimes would carry that number of men round the world on a roving picnic for as long as they chose." I venture to point out that even Messageries steamers may find it hard to escape the vigilance of our cruisers. Whereupon it begins to appear that my comprehension has been imperfect hitherto.

" Don't you see," says the general," that the battle for these colonies will be fought not here or there in the Pacific, but in the English Channel ? Our fleefhas been allowed to fall behind a little. The fact is that it may not be a match for the combination, of two Powers like France and Russia. In that case it is quite possible that we may have a disaster in the channel. If we do, nobody can havo any idea of what may not happen. Anything may happen. The whole face of the colonial world may be changed in a few weeks."

I now see the circumstances under which 5000 men may be expected on our shores. I understand the great fact ot the situation is that to heave 5000 men and all their works, guns, drums, trumpets, ammunition, proclamations of martial law into the sea is not quite the easiest thing in the world. But lam far from giving away. There are the forts. I mention the forts at the chief ports, the guns therein, the Moncrieff carriages, the steel shields, the submarine mines, the electric lights, the deadly marksmanship in the Permanent Artillery, and the very straight shooting of the navals—which last, I omit to say, are things pertaining to the distant future. The general eyes me like a chessplayer who calmly watches a brilliant antagonist rushing on to his fate. Mentally he salutes the forts aud their mechanical appliances, likewise their brave defenders, whom he is ready to admit are the bravest of the brave since the days of the great Bayard himself. All this he indicates with a email wave of his hand and a slight curl of his bushy eyebrows ; aud then I listen to the calm expression of the facts. The 5000 men would laud away from the forts. Their plan would bo to march on the towns defended by tho forts, to take the towns and get the forts thrown in, when the ships would steam quietly iv. " Have.you got anything to stop the march of 50JO men under these circumstances?" asked the general. And when I was for some time silent he kindly reduced the number, aud asked me if we had anything to stop 3000 men, " all armed with the last and best infantry weapon, the best artillery arms, machine guns of all kinds, well supplied with every invention of war, disciplined to perfection, and applied in a way to leave nothing to be desired ?"

The general paused for a reply. I thought of cur few hundreds hero and there, our extinct country corps, our handful of ancient artillery pieces, the excellent but obsolete Snider (once the queen of weapons), our short supply of ammunition. Thinking of these things, I remained silent. It was no use to telP the general that we had a disciplined numerous host ready to start up out of the ground whenever tho coast line should be insulted by the tramp of a foreign foe. Ho was not the sort that believes such tales; neither is he of the kind that is put off with any explanation that anybody chooses to make. Happy thought. The general will be able to answer his question for himself when he has been through tho colony. I say as much frankly, and we pass to another branch of the subject. '

—The velocity with which drops of rain fall depends upon their size. Such rain as is most usual in this country descends at a rate of from 12ft to 20ft per second.

—The longest stietch across London is from Brentford to Stratford-le-bow, a distance of over 21 miles. That is to say, London inclusive of suburbs, without a break of houses.

—As a result of the destruction of forests in Eussia the Caspian Sea is perceptibly receding, and now the Czar's officers are after the wood choppers with a sharp stick.

—A novelty in the application of electricity to musical instruments has lately appeared in Germany, by which a movement of elec-tro-magnets changes the timbre of the tcne.

—A Kentucky live stock man has made a new departure in the mule business. He sells them by weight, and has just disposed of 100 head at 14£ cents a pound.

—According to the latest British Consular report from JN'isch the sale of Bibles lias been prohibited in Belgrade, and it is expected that, the prohibition will bo made general.

—It is reported that the Russian Government intends to buy all the Polish railways and transform them into Stats railways on account of their strategical importance.