Dominion News

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 96, 13 August 1914, Page 6

Dominion News

> v+ ..... ~, * NAPIER SENDS £4660. iP*B'Pßtfelw^AasoounoN.] Napier, August 13. Xapier has forwarded its first instalment of £4OOO to the patriotic fund. 'MAILS FOR THE TROOPS. Wellington, August 13. Mails for the members of the advance party of the expeditionary force will be despatched from Wellington when opportunity offers. Letters should be addressed to Wellington, and should show the rank and name oi regiment in which addressee is serving, "Advance Party New Zealand Expeditionary Force," and name of troopship on \\ hich he Embarked if known. General ' Godley inspected the advance detachment this morning. THE NATIONAL RESERVES. Auckland, August 13. Five hundred men enrolled this morning, in the National .Reserve. They are an exceptionally fine typo of men and'many served in engagei nients. in various parts of "the world. The number indues a few Americans. AVIATEOM AND WAR. /DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW ' AI?M. THE POSITION IN EUROPE. The war now Leiug waged will test bjihtf ifraories regarding tim'purt which aviation will play in modern warfare. In Tripoli the Italian army used this new arm of military forces to and also to attack the Arab encampments by means of bombs. In the Balkan war the aviators played an important part, but this war must prove the adaptability of air. craft, "of both' types, lighter-than-air and' heavier-than-air. Already a daring French aviator has Wrecked a' Zeppelin 'airship, and the cablegrams state' that aeroplanes are hovering over the ! Belgo-German frontier. One is said to have thrown bombs into the French fortress of Luneville, and a French aviator did the same at" Unerberg, a German centre of mobilisation. The uenrian Ambassador to France gave the activity of French aviators on the German frontier as the reason for Germany declaring war, and everything points to great activity in this, the most recently created division in the military services of the nations.

It is generally 'admitted that the French aviators are the most skilled and the most daring in the world, and in the number of aeroplanes as in the number of firms which make the machines, she has a great advantage over any other nation/ Both Germany and Great Britain have made very rapid progress, and Great Britain's aewplanes form a very formidable branch both for attack and defence. - - A COMPARISON. ' The following table shows the aeronautical strength of the nations at war:— Aeroplanes or >. Seaplanes. Airships. Great Britain ...-. 130 5 France 754 21 Russia 380 8 Totals 1261 34 Germany 750 21 Austria 150 6 Totals 900 27 CERTIFICATED AVIATORS. Dec. 31,1912 Nov. 1, 1913 British 376 668' French ... ... 90S 1400 German ... ... 335 700 Other nations ... 310 1300 The figures for 1913 are only approximate.