WHY CHINA'S FLEET IS USELESS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10263, 22 January 1895, Page 7

WHY CHINA'S FLEET IS USELESS.

FEW NATIVE.ESGIKEEBS, ANB.TOREKf£eBS'Wxi|

NOT SEBV'E. Much surprise has been expressed'arWasStf ington at the neetaness of the Chinese ;fleei( in the war against Japan. The formar^powes has in commission 60 European built and! modelled vessels. Twenty-three of these >ara| of tbe be3t modelled types of their -class. Six^ teen are heavy irooclad ships and .cruisers,; with the batteries belonging to- their '-class ol| Kruppand Armstrong, PalliaserandWhitwortbf sis and eight inch rifles. With such arma-j .ments and being equal to anything of theic> tonnage and weight of battery that has, why hag the Chinese fleet not given a} b3tter account of itself in the late naval actionsj with Japan? The reasons for this are fur* nished to the Intelligence departments of both! France and England—not for general public cation, but solely for the information-of.tha! Admiralty and naval officers. ) China's fleet has accomplished -nothinjpfo» two causes. The first, says tha New YorK Herald, is that Chins is ohort of naval officers^;] the second, and it is almost as importsnt-as tha first, is the nearly total collapss of the steam^ engineering department of the navy. Before th^ present war bngan ths chief: engineers onfall the principal modern cimiseL'S and wac< vfisssls ware Europeans. Service under aj native captain in the Chinese fleet was never very agreeable at best. Nothing but the larga compensation they received kept them in thehs places. But when the war began and tha natural antagonism between the two iccea became pronounced, every English and Scottish: engineer quit tan service. They were sooi^ followed by the Germans and the few other; foreigners. Though the Chinese artificer is-ai good metal worker, he does not comprehend thej scientific features of high-class ateam engineer^ ing. He has no text books in his language^1 and he cannot read English, French, or Germaa. Thus tha Chinese ironclads have nofcha<H their highest qualities in the matter of speed, developed, because the engineers did not.knoW haw to produce the best effects. Another moat serioug weakness is-a lack of, proper "stoking." All naval officers are-well aware of the vast importance of good "firing*, on men-of-war. Even with the best-traiaed firemen in the world they often fail short in obtaining the highest speed because of imper« feet firing. The Chinaman is not a stoker at all by nature, and it is difficult to miike one out of bim by training. They seem to bs unable to, understand how the boilers should be treated; and the furnaces managed. Their local coal, too, ia very bad, and as English coal io espen» sive it is the object of the Chinese naval com< mauder to consume as little as possible,.on tha score of economy.

China will never be a naval power untiFfter, high officials learn that a good fleet cannot ba maintained except at a great expense. There ie not a native captain, or even an ntbniral,; who would dare undertake to circumnavigate the globe. China, up to this time, lisa nevef had much need for a tieagoing fleet. Its service has chiefly demanded vessels of ths gunboat order that could be nsad iv the shallow waters of sounds and rivers. They are not sailors at all, and now they are confronted by conditions that were unexpected and unprepared for. they do not in tha laast understand what they should do. 3'he Chinese mind in slow to graap or comprehend new conditions. This is why they are so much behind Japan ia the comprehension of European military and navfil tactics.

Tueao explanations coma from a British captiiia now in the north-west Chinese seas and a French admiral in ths sams waters. Their, views are singularly alike iv assigning tho causes of China's failure to utilise., to the highest, deeroe har really excellent fleet .of ironclads and cruisers.

. — Although the electric light is gradually coming into use, according to the latest estimate abouli 12 million tons of coal are consumed per annum for gas-raabing in the United Kingdom, over a quartetl of that amount;, being «©> SWBie.d in London,