THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8278, 3 November 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1906.

Tne iiondod Standard's suggestion that a volunteer motor fleet should be formed for scouting and pntroliing purposes meets with the strong approval of motor enthusiasts. The Standard points out tbat there is just as much need for such a fleet as there is for the existing volunteer motor corps on land. .Recent events have rather shaken belief in the abaulute security of British coasts against attack. It has been shown that it is possible for the whereabouts of a fleet in the open sea to be concealed, and that a hostile fleet, though weaker than the home fleet, oan make a sudden raid on a coast and inflict immense material and moral damage. A motor fleet might be i.'ivaluahle for observation work about the coast. Anyone of the leading English racing boats could effectually cover an extensive stretch of coast line for sentry duty. Their speed of twenty-five knots and upwards would allow them to venture far beyond observation from shore, witn a reasonable certainty of safe return. If they were observed their diminutive size would render them almost impossible targets A few hours gained by a warning from a motor boat sentry would be precious beyond oaloalation. In the construction of motor

' boats England has outstripped her rivals, and the men who take the !ead in the sport of racing and oruisiug in these vessels are very been on maintaining ■ the national pre-eminence, and would make flr-Bt-olbss naval volunteers. The great obstacle to tlie proposal seems to bo trie expense, for keeping motor oats is a costly business, and the Government could not expect men to do it without assistance, and now that economy is the order of tbe day at the Admiralty that assistance may not be forthcoming. There is certainly something very interesting and picturesque in the idea of Briti-th coasts being patrolled by swift boats in tbe hands of volun teers, who would be called upon to exercise that daring and resource always connected with our naval history. In the meantime the Admiralty is moving with its acoustomed caution in the direction of motor propulaiou. There was lately turned out aft the Yarrow yards a small motor torpedo boat designed for shallow waters. The new vessel carries two torpedoes, weighs eight tons, and measures 60ft in length and 9ft in breadth. Her horsepower is 300, and the advantage the petrol orafc has over steam maj te gauged from the fact that her range of effeotisenses —i.e., the distance Hhe can go without re charging—is 600 miles, as against a steam vessel's 100.