NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12502, 31 March 1909, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Cadet System. In the course- of one of his deliverances in Tasmania, Mr Deakin, in pointing put that the real defence of Australia could only.be secured by calling the whole of our. manhood to the task, made a pertinent and spirited reference to the subject.:— "Let us begin," he said, "with the: lads in the schools. Let us treat physical training as necessary for every lad, no matter what his future occupation. I say that if Australia were never in danger, and the heavy responsibilities now resting on us were lighter, it would still pay us to have our youth trained in. the cadets and fitted for such other training as might follow later.; Remember that when war comes it comes without .warning. When you recall our distance from the heart of the Empire ; when you recall our neighbours, you must see how real is the danger which we may have, to face; and you must see, too, that even if the time of trial does not come till- thei next generation, the services of every man will be needed to hold Aiistralia for the British flag and for the white race. In this matter the Commonwealth has not yet done its duty. Opinion is ripening now, and I believe that Australia is rapidly becoming convinced. I am prepared to put it to the test of the next general election, and to ask tho people of Australia, for the sake of their children, for the. sake of our civilisation and of the. white race, to provide the youth of: this country,- as it rises to manhood, shall be sufficientlj trained to be able to fall.into line and take its place in the ranks, if ever we are compelled in Australia to fight for the defence of our homes." "The Waste of Heat. Some interesting facts have recently transpired in England -in regard to the'intrinsic value of heat at present allowed to. go to waste. A conservative estimate places the value of. heat energy wasted in the United Kingdom at £50,000,000* per annum— a sum sufficient to provide a respectable number of Dreadnoughts. Striking confirmation of the contention is supplied by the fact that, a generating station which produces 3000 h.p. of electrical energy derived entirely from waste heat ~has__been started to work at Crook, County Durham. It appears that, apart from the waste in factories, the blast furnace ..and coke ovens of; Britain alobe produce waste heat equivalent to about half a million horse-power. '.On the northeast coast alone, according to a.recent paper; read before the Iron and; Steel Institute, they emit waste heat equal to 200,000 h.p. night and day. In

this particular locality, however, a solution of the difficrJty presented by the large and continuous loss of heat energy appeal's to have been reached, for there the district is covered by-a network of mains belonging to the great electric power companies. These, mains supply electric power to the railways, shipyards, collieries, etc, throughout the district, thus enabling the nominal owner of waste heat to turn it to profitable account. All parts of Britain, however, have not been seized of the same practical notion of turning an otherwise waste product to profitable account. An expert engineer computes the amount of coal burned in Britain at the prodigious total of 167,000,000 tons per annum, and of this amount he estimates that at least the virtue of half is lost ill the process of burning. Not only is England wasting her carboniferous substance with a prodigal hand, but she is contributing to the wealth of sent to the loading commercial men in "tight little' island." ' *. The Ambition of Germany. Six years ago (says the "New Zealand Herald") a remarkable letter was sent to the leading commercial men in Germany by a German University professor. It began by pointing out that Germany had arrived at the most critical moment of her history, and that the next few years would probably decide whether she would fill tho foremost place in the world, to which she was entitled, or sink to the rank of a secondary State. It went on to say : ' 'As all lands worth having are possessed by other nations, we can only obtain colonies by conquest. ■We have no reason to fear war either with America or Russia, but though wo can defeat .either nation- we cannot recompense ourselves at their cost. Only from Great-Britain can we hope to obtain desirable possessions. It is .true that her fleet is at present numerically much stronger than ours, but as~the size of a fleet is ultimately determined by the wealth of the people wo have reason for hope, for while Great Britain is economically stagnant, or rather retrogressing, we are rapidly progressing. Great Britain is industrially and financially decaying which entitles us to hope that Germany shall be the chief heir ~ when Great Britain has been so far reduced that the filial liquidation takes place." A's a means of bringing about the commercial downfall of England, the professor suggested that the British freetraders should be assisted in every way, and that a powerful press bureau disposing of ample funds, should~.be established in London by the German Government.