IMPERIAL PAPERS.

Otago Witness, Volume 02, Issue 2420, 2 August 1900, Page 69

IMPERIAL PAPERS.

By R. N. Adams.

No. X.— MINERS AND MARINERS. J The ancient mariner was one of the mo&t independent members of the human race; his modern representative is absolutely a creature of circumstances. Our old " walls of oak " could, with little trouble, fit out for a cruise of two or three years; but our present floating forts of steel, like the whale that can only remain below for a few minutes without returning to the surface for air, require, every few days, to put into some port for coal. The ships of Raleigh, Tasman, and Cook were not dependent on magazine islands, at which they might replenish their stores; but the Admiralty fin-l it unwise lo send a cruiser more than a few thousand miles without providiug a depot of coal for her convenience. Large ships of war may travel for six oi seven thousand miles under easy steam, but when it is necessary to run them at a high speed, the increased consumption of coal in proportion to the distance travelled is so great thait the bunkers are soon emptied, and it is requisite to have coaling stations at sufficiently-convenient distances of at most about four thousand miles. A steamship without .coal in her bunkers is as helpless as one with a broken tail-shaft — like cases that have recently occurred to the s.s. Perthshire and the s.s. Waikato, both of which drifted about on the open sea for several weeks perfectly . unmanageable — at the mercy of the winds and currents. * Coal is as necessary to a modern warship as supplies are to" an army. A steamship cus off from her coaling-station is in the same soriy plight as an army whose communications with its base are destroyed. This was a point clearly realised by Aajgrica when it was necessary to despatch troopships to the Philippines from San Francisco. Care was taken first that coal was provided, and only then could' the troops be sent over the ocean journey. Ifc was also realised by Admiral Dewey, who was forced to secure a coaling-station in the Philippines or find his ships useless before they could reach another depot. But •perhaps the best practical illustration of this is to be found in the movements of the German squadron sent in 1897 to take possession of Kaiu Chau, in China. The story, as given by the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch, of January, 1898, is worth re--peating: — " The Shipping Telegraph, says : — The departure of the two German warships, Gefion and Deutschland, for China is now ancient history, but the vessels have made very slow progress, and a state of affairs " has come to light which the German Admiralty would fair have hushed up. The incidents of the voyage to the entrance of the Suez Canal were comparatively uneventful, being marked chiefly by coaling at -British stations. Going down the Red Sea one of the warships was reported, by a -passing vessel, in tow of the other, apparently with the machinery disabled. This .•was not really- the cause of the towing, for •the temporary disablement" was caused by the coal running short in the towed vessel. From Port Said to Aden is about 1350 « miles, and the two ships only did this with difficulty. They eventually coaled at Aden and were then face to face with the problem of how to reach Colombo, the next ' coaling station, which is 2100 miles from Aden. To fail to make the voyage successfully would have been a serious blow to the prestige of the ' mailed fist,' and so a secret charter was made with a British firm, whereby two colliers were chartered to proceed to the island of Socotra, about one-third of the distance (650 miles), and to lie there until tKe German warships arrived to take in the coal. The terms of the charter stipulated that the colliers should lie for one week off Socotra. Owing, however, to delays the warships were not up to time, and the colliers returned. After their departure the warships arrived, and, to their dismay, found there was no coal. One of them was brought to anchor, and the other returned in search of the colliers." She reached Perim, then, not -having found the coal boats, she" procured a cargo of coal and proceeded on her jour.ney.' r This story of an actual naval adven- ,• ture gives' an excellent object lesson on the point being here discussed — the dependence -of naval -warfare- on coal supply. Colonel . Sb Howard Vincent, writing jf this incident, places the matter very plainly. He says : — c "Would you — as a German or a Frenchman, remember — sxpand, and sail the sea? Neither from Kiel or Hamburg ; neither from Cherbourg. Bordeaux, or Marseilles, cau you reach the watera of the Far East without coals — without the" leave of England. -" Take the course of his Imperial Highness

Prince Henry of Hohenzollern — the envoy," ' the mailed fist '— to China. The Deutscliland must need? — Coal at Gibraltar — by leave of Britain ; Coal afe Port Said — by leave of Britain ; Coal at- Aden — by leave of Britain ; Coal at Colombo — by leave of Britain; Coal at Singapore — by leave of Britain; Coal at Hongkong — by leave of Britain. And how return but — by leave of Britain?"' Nor has Sir Howard strained his illustration. Your Frenchman, your German, or your Russian, can only parade the ocean by leave of Britain. Keep any one of them away from a friendly port for three weeks of active steaming, and it is. a case of — at your mercy, gentlemen.

The great Mercantile commerce of Britain has rendered the control of coaling stations an absoliite necessity, and we have them dotted ail over the sea, more particularly in the line of the principal trade routes. As trade increased, and trade ways multiplied the Police of the Seas arso became more numerous, and the Admiralty had to make provision for all possible requirements, and now we have not stations merely for trade, but Imperial storehouses of coal for fuel, and all other articles her Majesty's ships might be in need of on a, distant voyage, or even from an encounter with an enemy.

These coaling stations are not all in a good state of defence, but most of them are. During the last few years- great attention lias bsen paid to the safety of these magazines, and large sums of money have been spent to make them what they should be But. confessedly" they are not yet up lo the standard. Some of the more important may be said to be impregnable, but others are supplied only with inferior arms of old date and old fashion. This is one point in our Imperial defence that should not be allowed to stand longer in any state of neglect. In the case of an attack on a coaling station the probability is that there would be no warning. The design would certainly be to secure it before notice of hostilities could reach it, and in such a case many of them would be found both badly armed and poorly manned.

Our worst folly lias been a sort of trusting to Providence, or good luck. In cases like that, Providence lias taught many an expensive lesson. The gifts of Providence have been the suitable harbours, the supply of the material and the wealth required to make everything secure against a foe, as well as time to dc it. If we are careless of our own interests, then we surely deserve to suffer. France has several coal stations of great service. In the Pacific, notably, she possesses New Caledonia ; Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and several most conveniently placed in the South Atlantic, by the' use of which her ships could manage fairly well to reach these seas, although if any of the more southern were taken from her, the fleet would be rendered useless to a very large degree, for they depend on free communication with each. Germany, also, is looking in the same direction. She has made for herself a base in China ; she has obtained control of Samoa, and she possesses valuable harbours in New Guinea. These, so far, count for but little ; yet they are a beginning that indicates how she intends to manage in the future

Nothing is plainer than that as Germany wishes to rival us with her navy, so she desires to make good facilities of every sort for her warships. "By the leave of Britain," is not intended to be long on the programme, but rather, "In spite of Britain," and who can blame her? Tn the present state of affairs, however, and that is what we are" considering, the holding of the seas is in the hands of Britain, and her wisdom will be shown by her manner of dealing with a possession of such incalculable value.

There is, however, another aspect of this question. Not only do we possess the coaling stations of the sea on the shores of continents and islands, but what is of' equal importance is the fact that we possess the coal mines of the mainland. There is more in this than may appear at first thought. France holds coaling stations, but she is dependent on being able to purchase coal from us. Russia has coal, but it is not suitable for steamship purposes, and is far from the coast. Germany is also dependent chiefly on us for her coal, as well as coaling places. Hence we have command of by far the best side of "the affair. The balL lies at our feet, 'and it is our opportunity to put it into goal.

As to coal supply, our mines as far surpass those of other nations as does om trade ■or area of country, and our supply con-, tinues to increase with a pace equal to our expansion of empire. Just recently, while all nations have had designs on China, principally for the purpose of shutting the doors of trade ports | against Britain, they have at the same time j been striving to get a grasp of China's j enormous coal fields, the largest in the , world. Yet amid all the confusion of con- [ tending diplomatists, this immense area of 1 the finest steaming coal in the world has fallen into British hands. There is more

wealth in the coal measures of the province of Shan-si than in the auriferous deposits of the Yukon. It is a formation said to be 40 miles wide and 250 miles long, with an average of 40ft depth, containing the best anthracite coal. Scripture has recorded a promise to certain people of " the chief things of the ancient mountains, and of the precious things of the lasting hills " ; and this right to mine this most important mineral, granted by China to a British syndicate for a period of 60 years, is surely a Divine gift to the British race. When diplomacy had failed to obtain the concession chiefly because so many European nations desired the privilege, then commercial methods were adopted, and the AngloSaxon came out on the top. This cpsts the rule of coal in the Far East into the hands of our people, and withholds it from those who would close it down against us ; but in addition, it gives us the chance of regulating the output and distribution in a time of war, and this again immensely strengthens our position in the North Pacific.

The present annual consumption of coal amounts to 300,000,000 tons, and it is calculated .that the coal bed leased by China to the British syndicate at a royalty of 25 per cent, on the profils contains enough to supply the entire world at the present rate for a period of 2100 years. It is only 270 miles from Pekin, on the Yellow River, which is easily navigable right up to the coal district. The coal can be brought down the river by steamers, and coasted to the British port Wei-hai-wei, which is thus destined to become a, Newcastle of the East. Not only does the region abound in coal, but along with it. is a, vast store 'of iron ore and limestone, which must eventually lead to the British region in China becoming the industrial centre of that great empire.

Another very extensive and valuable coalfield has recently been discovered in a most advantageous position for supplying coal to the North-western Atlantic fleet. Willie forming a railway from St. John's to Port-au-Basques in Newfoundland during 1897-8 a magnificent seam of coal was struck, which on examination proves to be one of large extent and splendid quality foxsteam purposes. This gives the Empire another coaling station within an easy run of dome, where the coal will be received at the first port from the pit's mouth.

The output of the coal-producing European nations for 1894 was : Or.-at Britain 376,9fi0 000 tons Germany 99 Of.O 000 tons Fiaure 26,300 000 tons Russia 6,000,600 tons France, in addition to what was locally raised, imported 10,000,000 tons, thus showing by what an enormous amount Britain exceeds the coal-mining of her neighbours.

But coal requires that the powei producing it shall also have the means of transporting it to distant places of consumption, and with that the power to protect the trade. In this as in other Imperial strength Britain stands peerless. We have, therefore, the enormous advantages of many coaling stations and immense and conveniently situated mines of the best coal. We command the most extensive means of transit, and the wealth to attend to all the duties of our Imperial defence and mercantile trade, which can nev-er be lost by us so long as we are true to our own interests.