GUNBOAT PATROLS

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1660, 8 September 1925, Page 3

GUNBOAT PATROLS

CAMPAIGNING ON CHINESE RIVERS. 'The trouble in China, bringing with it the inevitable revival of piracy on the Chinese rivers, has drawn the attention of naval architects to a statement that some of the gunboats we maintain on the rivers are getting worn out, and that it will be necessary to begin replacing them next year at the latest (says the London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian). After the war we sent out a number of big gunboats armed with 6-inch guns that we had used on the Tigris and the Euphrates, and these now form the backbone of the Chinese' river patrol force.

They are, however, ships of 600 odd tons, and although they are ideal for work on the lower and broader parts of the rivers, where the tidal stream calls for a big power, they are too big and unhandy to twist and turn among the rocks and snags in the upper and narrower parts of the rivers. This duty is therefore left to the little gunboats that are no wearing out, boats that carry from 85 to 200 tons displacement and carry two little 6-pounder popguns and a number of machine guns. The great trouble is that when then draught of water is limited to about 20 inches it is evry difficult to find room for steam machinery, while the intense heat of the summer season makes it quite impossible to employ, white stokers, and Chinese have to be enlisted for the summer months, Chinese who are quite likely to be in league with the pirates. There is, however, denty of oil to be had on the Chinese rivers, and it is suggested that all the disadvantages of the present boats could be overcome by the substitution of internal combustion for steam machinery without any loss of speed oi efficiency. *