NEW MACHINE GUN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14221, 12 February 1917, Page 9

NEW MACHINE GUN.

RIFLE SAID TO FIRE 4CO SHOTS A . MINUTE. ; NEW YORK, Jan. 14. The existence of a. r ,"new army riflo, with a combination of(jvieight and magazine capacity, wliich. makes it perhaps tlie deadliest- weapon eyer invented for war, ha s come to 'Jig^t.-liem It is virtually \a machine gun which can he carried with ease' bV. any soldier. It weighs only twelve v and ' a half pounds and is reported to be aapable of firing' 400 shot s a minute). The new rifle is tlie invention of Paul Dreinholt Werleh and William Marshall of Toronto. . Tho-. secrecy was lifted in a fight in the Supreme Court. A financial backclr sought to enjoin them from disposing of their invention to a foreign government. No forqign Power was named, but it is believed that the Allies have been negotiating. The inventor* denied that they had sold the rtflc to any power, but" said that arrangements had been closed with thd Westing-house Company for manufacturing on a- royalty basis for them.General staff officers in Washington and ordnance experts on Governor's'lsland expressed a profound interest/ saying that an automatic- rifle so light and firing so fast would be of greater value than any heretofore known. The Lee-Enfield rifle used by BritiVh troops weighs nine pounds .ion ounces. Tho Lewis machine gun weighs between -twent3"-fiye and twenty-nine pounds, and (ire» about 800 • rouda a minute; Thfv army officers agree, that the Wcden-and Marshall rifle; if it pfcyves to. be what i.i claimed for it, would he much more efficient than the Lewis' gun?