OUR DEFENCES.
GENERAL SCHAW'S RECOMMENDATIONS.
UNAUTHORISED EXPENDITURE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, February 2. General Schaw had a long interview with Ministers in Cabinet to-day, when defence matters were fully duscussed. I uoderaband that General Schaw, while fully satisfied with the physique and 2}ersonnel of the permanent artillery, does not consider them at all competent to effectively work the heavy ordnance of the fortification, owing to want of proper instructions, and that he insists on the necessity of procuring without delay several competent artillery non-commissioned officers from Home j to act as instructors. II is understood Ministers are quite willing to accept and acton this advice, and the necessary application to the Horse Guards will probably be made without delay, as Government are determined to put the colony in an effective state of defence, so as to be prepared for any contingency which may arise. Reductions in the defence force are being steadily carried out, but it is the intention of Government to bring the uncompleted defence works to as early a completion as possible on the modified lines suggested by Major-general Schaw. It is currently reported that the defence liabilities incurred by the late Government will largely exceed the estimate laid before Parliament." All sorts of claims and liabilities are cropping up daily. This state of thing is said to have arisen from the divided authority whjch existed in the Defence department— there being several heads, each incurring liabilities and entering into other engagements without reference to the others. It now appears that the Government have just received a bill from England for £20,000 for defence purposes, which has been incurred without a shadow of authority, while there is not a scrap of writing in the hands of any of the officers here to show how or why or when it was done. February 7. It is stated that the result of the official visit of the Minister for Defence, accompanied by Major-general Schaw, has been to make it abundantly clear to the Government that the nature of those defences is far too elaborate in the present financial position of the colony, and that a great deal of money has been needlessly wasted. A very much more simple scheme of defence, according to Major-general Schaw, would have amply sufficed for all requirements for years to come. As the expenditure has been incurred, however, there is nothing now but to bring the works to an efficient completion at as early a date as possible, and so save the present heavy cost of continual supervision. It is understood that the Government intend to do this. I learn that General Schaw expressed himself satisfied with the works so far as they had gone, and praised the working of the guns by the Permanent Artillerymen, but he reiterated his opinion that competent noncommissioned officers from the Royal Artillery should be obtained at once to instruct the men more thoroughly in the working of
the more modem of tho pieces of otdnaoce now mounted at the forts. The Hon. Mr Fergus has already acted on this recommendation, and cabled to the Agent-general .to ask the Imperial Government to setect two properly qualified non-commissioned om'oeis of artillery for the purpose. A special trial was made of firing with the eight Nordenfeldt gnus at Fort Gordon yesterday, with very satisfactory results. General Schaw also explained more fully hi 3 previous request on the question of the electric search light at Fort Gordon, and showed very conclusively that its present position was too elevated to be properly effective. The apparatus will, in consequence, be moved to a point much nearer sea levels and where the area swept by it will include the water quite close up to the base of the fort. On the subject of the nature of the guns with which the forts are provided General Schaw spoke very highly, but he pointed out that in the case of the disappearing guns the mechanism was of a complex character, requiring special care and knowledge in working, and that therefore professional skill must be obtained to thoroughly instruct the local forces how to treat them with a minimum of wear and tear and to lessen the risk of damage to the guns. With reference to these guns a local paper publishes the following statement on the authority of the Minister for Defence :— " If occasion arose to fire from these big guns, fully charged, some 200 shots one after the other, the guns would be rendered useless straight away, as the heating of the tube would be such as to liquefy the gun metal and _so destroy the bore. Of course it would be improbable in the extreme that 200 shots would ever be fired in quick succession, but then 100 shots might be required in the case of two or three hostile ships slowly steaming up to the heads, and the question naturally arises whether in that case the guns, which are very expensive specimens, would be half-way or more towards being disabled before they have probably done a fractional part of what wo have a right to expect of them." I understand that the Government have determined to complete the fortifications at the four principal ports as speedily as possible in order to put a stop to the expenditure which is now going on for supervising. As soon as the works are completed the services of a number of officials can be dispensed with.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18880210.2.47
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 1890, 10 February 1888, Page 16
Word Count
909OUR DEFENCES. Otago Witness, Issue 1890, 10 February 1888, Page 16
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