THE SCANDAL OF THE GUNS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3738, 24 September 1886, Page 3

THE SCANDAL OF THE GUNS.

(Times, July 19th.) As regards the actual resultsof gun making, things have been going stoadily from bad to worso. No ono outside of tho department, unless it bo tho intelligence departments of foreign Governments, knows tho oxact truth ; but it unquestionable that tho captains of a largo number of English men of war havo received orders not to firo their big guns; and that some shipa under this prohibition havo been left to be the aolo protectors of important British interests. Mr Armit now describos tho condition of tho 38-ton guns on board Hor Majesty's ship Ajax, and of several of tho now 7-pound guns m India, and is ablo to make, without fear of contradiction, tho assertion that " England has at this moment no artillery nrmament wherewith to defend hor honor either at Homo or abroad." In engineering and mechanical skill, and m the power of working metals, we hold tho first placo m the world ; but, as regards guns, we should be compelled, if we were involved m war at short notice, to become suppliants to Herr Krupp for tho means of protecting our national existence. Our private firms have been sympathetically discouraged from attempting to improve artillery, and henoo they nono of them possess, or could immediutely obtain, tho plant necessary for any largo amount of construction. Whilo such has beon the general operation of the system, a wholly now form of accusation has, within tbo last few weeks, been publicly mado against those who are responsiblo for an endless series of follies and disasters. It has long been manifest that the depnrtraont was incompetent ; it is now openly said to be corrupt. Colonel Hope no doubt feels very strongly about tho treatment which ho has himself experienced nt tho hands of the authorities, but he is a distinguished soldier, tho possessor of tho Victoria Cross, and would bo (jealous of tho honour of Uis professipq,

Yet it is he who has offered to establish an accusation of " wholesole corruption" against tho " department which supplies guns which burst, rifiVs nnd cartridges which I jam, bayonets which bend, and swords which will not cut," if a proper inquiry is held m broad daylight. Mr Lynall Thomas has offered to l.iy before tho Attorney-Genernl proofs of tho specific acts of fraud and perjury, committed by high officers of tho sumo department. The offer of Colonel Hope has been met by dexterous but transparent evasion ; that of Mr Lynall Thomas has been simply declined. It may be well, m manj- circumstances, to treat charges of this kind will contempt, and to reposo implicit confidence m men who havo been selected, on any sound principle, for responsible positions. Tho present instance, howevor, is hardly of this kind; for tho reason that such charges, although now for the first time preferred openly and m print, have for many years been current m private circles. There aro many provincial towns m and around which various manufacturing industries that supply necessaries to the army aro located ; and every ono who has liTcd m these towns is awaro of tho common belief that nothing can bo sold to the War Office except by the aid of bribery. It is commonly said m such localities that tho rejected goods of the manufacturer who will not bribe are accepted when sent m a second time by another who is less scrupulous. It is also said that thero ia quite a thriving industry which consists m buying condemned stores at ono depit, and sending them m agnin as new at another. Some jours ago, when the gun question was tiriting temporary interest, it was said by dealers m steel that a high official, with whom rested tho placing of contracts to tho extent of hundreds of thousands to pounds, was a constant and verj- unlucky gambler on the turf, where his losses much exceoded all his known sources of income. Such stories may or may not be true, or, if they contain any element of truth, it may bo grossly exaggerated ; but the denial of inquiry is alone sufficient to confer upon them vitality. Not was contingent upon tho profit he could make out of tho contracts for clothing his regiment ; and, although this profit was permitted, and wa3 mado openly, it must havo tended towards the development of a system of intermediate commissions, which may since have borno evil fruit. It cannot bo expected that rr annfacturers who havo recourse to bribery will themselves tell talcs or mako complaints. It is always open to them to recoup themselves for their outlay by increased charges, which the public aro compelled to bear ; and while any public interest m euch matters is but shortlived, the department is perennial, and would not fail to find means of punishing anyone who«o action hud been hostilo to its interests. Wo hold, therefore, that tho refusal of inquiry into defiuito charges of corruption is a mistake.