Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 1913. ARMED MERCHANTMEN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13092, 4 June 1913, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE . WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 1913. ARMED MERCHANTMEN.

The^day'is^ perhaps, riot' far distant, when' i>f wi6; shall see steamers of the lonic and "Ruapehu class, trading between ..JNew; Zealand and the Homeland, carrying'^naval guns. . \\ Advices received byi:the-;Ehglislii -mail state that a good begjTntiing ; ■: has ; .been made with*- theAdml|^t^'s;ri^v policy ' of arming.. tiipch'apjbnieiv'fiVe. of the Houlder liners,, •which ar,e fittJed.^up for carrying meat from -the Argentine to British, ports, having /beeir' equipped with two 4.7in. guns apiece. The first merchant steamer to .-ytftke the Admiralty, guns aboard, was the Rpyal Mail Steam Packet Company's of 10,000 tons, trading between; .*: Southampton and South Amejie&jV she having two guns mounted 1 on tRe -"poop and a crew of naval reserve officers /and men amongst her ship's CQmpany. Sister % ships followed; miriilarly equipped. Putting, guns. 'aboard merchant, "ships; as the Sydney "Daily '.Telegraph, points., out,' is ; by no' 'means a new idea. In the old -days every merchantV ship carried brass carTonades and heayy muzzle loaders .mounted, on trunnions- a3v'_a defence against pirates as v\y.ellias privateers.; ..It is not so long ago since the C.P.Rvs Empress-of China and- ilier sister, ships trading; jfrbm couver 4to Japan carried guns mounted m '•■' emplacements: :.-.V ;;.; .'Mr;.:'. '.'Winston Churchill has not invented a\.ne\v plan put .reverted, io an! 'old lone which never* iheless 'has a special .Significance .at' the; present^, cpnjunctur*.,^ -.-ijrii> naVioi • affairs. The. 1 4.7 naval gun -is 'a, 'remarkably useful . Ve«ipon " and " proved 'its ■ usef ijlhess during the war m South. Africa. But to place, two of . thism on ' <boafd a merchant .'steamer is plainly ; a defensive and, "'hot an offensive measure. - It will enable the (^merchant steamer to. repel the attack \o£ a foreign merchantman carryihg :a-i" siipilar lights .armar&e^f, but it Will »npt.' enable her ;to resisl the at-, tack- of an enemy's cruiser; The new arrahgemen},^ the Daily Telegraph adds, may*; be expected to lighten* the task of the^Royal Navy by freeing the\ cruisers troJh " the , dviy r ; . of \ ■patrolling ; the sea routes; exoept.in search Vof the cruisers. The role of, %)ie British cruisera.wjil be as it has feeen m the past, to .seeji' ; i6ut:;the enemy's 1 cruisers wherr ev«r :f^they - 'joiay ' be •' and destroy . themv That^is a..r016' which they : cannot per-: ;f;6iHTa,, thoroughly if they have to be employed mi n cpiiy.oying . Bi'itisli , . mercliant Chips', carrying food larid raw material to .British ports. The ships of the Royal JnaV^ will protect those vessels from at-' tack by., the verity's, bruisers by «ngaging'the enemy's crujsets wherever they can^ud them. '.But ;tlie Brtiish ' cruisers cannot, undertake dboyjio' "protect^' the Britisli , merxjltantihenv.frbm!, tlie eucmy'l merchantmen that . carry t guns . ' ' The yolu)ne. ;,t?f J3ritish : shipirig always iir transit '; on, .the. sea routes, makes /siich ;'a task impossible m conjunction f with the fa^ VmoreV; essential du;ty 'of '■■' • attaclting 1 th^i'. enemy's cruisers. ' "The, ' thaty.applies to- t^ie, , f Anvarican trade will doubtless be -applied alsd to the Australian- trade, though; 1 - m the event of war between ; Grsat Britain and a European Power the Austrairaii.Ayarn shipsvwould! prbbabiyAbe Available for protecting -the" Australian Itrade against attack; by the enemy's armed nrerchant" meti as well as by l liis warsh'ips-^issum-ing that any European Power >epgaged m". a' naval' waf f , with ? ' conld] afford to detach a single V-cruiser ; from European -waters. .■•.;..;.;■.,,', . ' 'v.- '• * • '; .-<.' -■" . : '•..■•■;'""■'■