Untitled

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144665, 27 April 1915, Page 2

The use of poisonous gases as a means of destroying tho enemy has hitherto boon chiefly associated noth stories of Malay pirates who employed stink pots to incommode tho crews of ships they were attacking. .The Germans, with tlioir highly developed scientific training, ran naturally do even better than the Malay. It is essential that tho pas employed should he a heavy one. because a light gas like cyanogen (commonly known as prussic acid), though very deadly, would diffuse too rapidly to remain effeetivo long. Chloride or carbon dioxide (tho after-damp of miners) arc both heavy gases which would pour gradually to low portions of tho ground and remain for some time before diffusing with the air. Chlorine is also visible, having a greenish-yellow colour. In small quantities it produces a very irritating effect on tho throat, and in larger amounts is fatal. It Is easily liquefied under pressure, and thus can he provided in largo quantities in receptacles from which the gas would csoapo when the pressure is removed. Hie Germans probably did not use pure chloride, bm. some compound or mixture produced in the laboratory. The chlorides of sulphur mentioned in ono cablegram are all liquid at ordinary temperatures,' so would not serve the desired purpose. Tho Germans apparently have two methods of using the gases. On some occasions they fire bombs which on exploding drop the heavy gas Into the. trenches, where it will lie for some time, especially at tho lowest points. • In the attack described to-day they appear to have taken adj vantage of a favouring wind and nllowjed poisonous gases from receptacles i placed in front of their trenches to (low towards the hostile trenches. A change of wind would have proved fatal to the plan. The go-s was visible, but tbe French rashly tried to charge through it and perished, while Germans provided with apparatus for supplying oxygen collected the rifles of tho dead and dying. The scope of this method is very limited. It needs a nearly calm day with a favouring wind, so that the gas can flow like water in the direction desired. Neither party can pass the none affected and therefore it is impossible for either to gain or lose much, once the deadly nature of tho device is recognised. Tho gas. moreover. must be visible to prevent thdso who set it tree from being victimised. The bombs containing gases arc more effective, though it is doubtful whether their deadly range is much greater than, that of shrapnel shell, and so long as tho gas remains in the trenches neither party can occupy them. Thus it will ho seen that the new German devise is not really likely to be more deadly than the much advertised Zeppelins and submarines, once its limited scope is realised. H chief effect at present is due to its novelty and the terror it inspires from its unexpected character.

The impression generally bold in the Dominion is that tho Now Zealand and Australian troops arc taking part in tho fighting around the Dardanelles. An article in The Times of March 19 shows, however, that some Australians are undoubtedly in England. The article says: ■‘The brown leather caps of tho Australian troops have lately become almost as familiar to us in tho streets of London as were, a few months ago, the crimson and bine and green shoulderstraps of the Canadians. The men have lately had some days’ leave and so have been able to explore London. They are hoping for another week-end or two there, though they are hoping much more keenly to go to tho front. Meanwhile they arc billeted in that most placid and engaging of country towns, Roniscy, in Hampshire. Whether one studies them one by one or in mass, tho striking thing about these Australians is that they appear so fit and so workmanlike. They look very brown and very hard, and capable of turning their hands to anything; at a first glance one is ready to swear that they would put the average Englishman to the blush in improvising ways out of outdoor difficulties. They hardly look so smart perhaps as docs the British professional soldier, not, that is to say, when off duty. The Australian soldier in his hours of ease has not quite the same drilled and uniform air as his brother at home, but he has in compensation a fine strength and freedom of gait, which is very reassuring to look upon. .Save for a few in slouch hats, all the men wear the leather caps before mentioned. These and their brown leggings, in place of puttees, harmonise very well with their-browu faces,, and give- them tbe-

sides a distinctive and exotic touch. Another distinctive point about them is that practically all are clean-shaven. ' “It’s cleaner,” as one of them tersely explained, adding that some unspecified powers called “they” had tried to make the Australians grow moustaches. His smilo implied that tho effort had not been very successful, and it was clear that it had not, for of all tho Australians to bo seen in Romscy yesterday afternoon hut one had a moustache, and that was only a very little one. Perhaps it is their clean upper lips that give thorn as a whole a decided appearance of youth, but, though they look young, no single one of them has anything of unformed boyishness. 'Whatever his actual ago, each has filled out and hardened into a man.” It is possible that the reference is to Australians resident in England who havo enlisted, as did a Now Zealand contingent which subsequently joined tho force in Egypt. This is rendered tho more probable by tho fact that they are all billeted in one small town, where there is also a Scottish regiment. It is not likely that less than a division (20,000 men) would ho scut homo from Egypt. On tho other hand, the writer of tho article is either very ignorant or intentionally misleading if the men he writes of are resident in England, for such men do not need, in most cases, to explore London.