rivalled in the rest of Australia. The 

 necessity by -which harbour authorities 

 all over the world are being pushed to 

 provide wJiarfag-e for large draught 

 stenmers will, iindoubtedly, increase the 

 demand for heavy piles, such as were 

 sui)nlied from Tasmania for the Dover 

 liarbour works. Trade in these piles is 

 worfh studying, by looking for orders 

 Avherevei" a large new harbour is project- 

 ed. It is easier for Tasmani<a to hear 

 that a new harbour is projected than for 

 the contractoruS to know how easy it is 

 to procure in Tasmania piles of extra- 

 ordinary length, strength, and specific 

 gravity. 



In shipbuilding an effort is being 

 Tna.de to regain for the English mer- 

 cantile marine the primacy as re- 

 gards speed which now belongs 

 to Germany, and considerable pro- 

 gress has been made in the building of 

 two great steamers for the Canard line, 

 which will be 785ft. in length, and with a. 

 guaranteed speed of 244- knots. There is 

 reason to hope the guaranteed speed of 

 these gigantic turbine steamers will be 

 substantially exceeded. For the firsc 

 time in history the number of steamers 

 on 1he English register surpasses the 

 Tiiiniber of sailing ships. The conclusion 

 of the war l^etween Ri:ssia aud Japan has 

 taught many lessons in the art of war. 

 The Defence I'orces of Tasmania have al- 

 ready adopted in details of tactics, uni- 

 form, and entrenchments some of these 

 lessons. The war in the East has thrown 

 li^lit on many scientific problems of gene- 

 ral interest. On land, prominence was 

 given to the importance of railways in 

 any scheme of defence, and it appears 

 that a country not likely to be attacked 

 for a long time might well- spend money 

 intended for future defence on strateg- 

 ical railways, having at the same time a 

 commercial value. On the sea the mo- 

 dern design of battleship was tested in 

 practice. It was shown that larger ships 

 are required to keep the sea efficiently, to 

 carry many long range guns, and to have 

 a margin of stability after being hit by 

 a torpedo. These lessons have rendered 

 the greater part of the navies of the 

 world obsolete. It was also shoAvn that 

 a Iflrge fleet is worthless unless it is kept 

 in the highest state of repair, that no 

 guns, explosives, or "materiel" is worth 

 having which is not the very best, and 

 that enormous dockyard resources, with 

 skilled workers in constant employment, 

 must be at hand to any fleet worth hav- 

 ing. The importance of the torpedo-boat 

 has been gi'eatly discounted ; these craft 

 did not save Port Arthur, or sink a single 

 Japanese warship. It appears that ships 

 struck by Japanese torpedoes were repair- 

 ed by the Eussians, and brought back in- 

 to the fighting line, and that the effect of 

 the blow of a torpedo is purely local on 



the structure of a sliip. It was shown 

 th<it life on torpedo-boats and destroyerH 

 is so hard that a large sea^going fleet in 

 constant training is necessary from 

 which to I'c-cruit crews physically 

 abh^ to keep' lo Ihe sea in tor- 

 pcdo-destroyet\s, and to fight such craft 

 at 7iight .inid in bad weather. Crewa 

 unaccustomed to fight in uncomfortable 

 weather were shown to he at the mercy 

 of an enemy .nccustomed to the sea. The 

 advantage of superior speed was shown to 

 give choice as to the place where decisive 

 actions are to be fought by battle fleets. 

 The designs have been published of a 

 tnrbine-driven torpedo, with a speed 

 of thirty-five knots. The British 

 Admiralty are projecting 20-knot sub- 

 marine boats. No more powerful 

 means for harbour defence has yet been 

 devised. The salvage operations of the 

 Japanese, by which they raised from the 

 deep several battleships and cruisers are 

 omongst the most instructive less'ons of 

 the war. It appears that there are no 

 specially ecjuipped salvage steamers sta- 

 tioned in Australian waters, although the 

 volume of shipping is great and increas- 

 ing. The success of Japan in raising a 

 whole squadron of wrecked shipping may 

 be an incentive to establish salvage com- 

 panies in these waters. Hobart would 

 be an inviting centre for srtch an enter- 

 prise, in view of our magnificent 

 harbour, and its convenient position be 

 tween Australia and New Zealand. Tlie 

 inclination to sell their navies — compris- 

 ing several powerful ships of recent date- 

 on the part of the South American Re- 

 public, tends to prove the proposition 

 that ail second-class navies are not worth 

 maintaining. Notwithstanding the futil- 

 ity cf its mismanagement, the concentra- 

 tion of a Enssian fleet in the Sea of 

 Japan, at a distance from its base in 

 Euissia of more than half the circumfer- 

 ence O'f the woi-ld, has put an end to the 

 t.heoi-y that distance is any protection 

 from naval attack. The supremacy 

 of the sea now belongs to the 

 nation that can build fastest, and has 

 the greatest number of building" slips and 

 yards for vessels of the largest size. On 

 this ship-building standard the snpreni- 

 acy of England is undeniable, and it 

 does not appear that it can be seriously 

 challenged for half a generation. 



In scanning the political horizon for 

 facts that can be dressed in a 

 scientific garb, a prominent place is 

 due to the visit of General Booth to 

 Tasmania, which has draA\'n attention to 

 the Imperial aspects of the emigration 

 question. With masterly ability, and 

 with an organisation siiited to the needs 

 of the multitude. General Booth has 

 made the Salvation Army the greatest 

 and most scientific emigration organisa- 

 tion for receiving emigrants at the end 



