GUNDAGAI 



3748 



GUNNERY 



remove unstable products, which, 

 if left in, have a most deleterious 

 effect on its keeping properties. 

 The process consists of boiling 

 the guncotton in about 10 series 

 of waters, a trace of alkali being 

 sometimes added, the total boiling 

 lasting about 50 hours. Passing 

 the guncotton through a pulping 

 machine reduces it to a fine state 

 of division ; it is then passed over 

 a trap to remove foreign matter, 

 and then washed again in a 

 poacher, a small percentage of cal- 

 cium carbonate added, and then 

 the water content reduced to about 

 25 p.c., and the pulp moulded ' 

 into blocks by hydraulic pressure. 

 Wet guncotton is very insensitive 

 and a satisfactory blasting explo- 

 sive if primed with dry guncotton 

 initiated with a fulminate detona- 

 tor. At one time it found extensive 

 use for filling mines, torpedoes, etc., 

 but has been displaced by trinitro- 

 toluene, and at present is only em- 

 ployed for military blasting, being 

 pressed into 15 oz. slabs. In the 

 dry state guncotton is very sensi- 

 tive to friction and percussion, and 

 must be handled with great care. 

 In this condition it is used for 

 priming wet guncotton and other 

 explosives, and as an ingredient of 

 cordite (q.v. ). See Explosives; 

 Nitrocellulose ; Smokeless Powder. 

 Gundagai. Town of New South 

 Wales, Australia. It stands on the 

 Murrumbidgee river, 287 m. by rly. 

 S.W. of Sydney, in a rich wheat 

 and maize producing district. 

 Pop. 1,181. 



Gunib. Town of Daghestan in 

 the Caucasus. It is situated on the 

 Karakoi-su, on an almost perpen- 

 dicular rock in a narrow pass, and 

 is strongly fortified. 



Gunjah OK GANJA. Dried flower- 

 ing tops of the female plants of 

 cannabis indica, the Indian hemp. 

 It is sometimes smoked as a kind 

 of tobacco. See Ganja. 



Gun Licence. Permit necessary 

 for the possession of firearms. In 

 Great Britain the licence, which is 

 administered by the county coun- 

 cils and is rigidly enforced, permits 

 the owner to carry firearms. It 

 costs 10s. a year, and expires on 

 July 31. Soldiers carrying rifles 

 or revolvers in the performance 

 of duty or whilst shooting at a 

 target, are exempt, as are also 

 holders of game licences. The 

 possession of a gun licence does not 

 absolve the owner from the neces- 

 sity of applying for a police permit 

 to possess firearms. See Firearms. 

 Gunmakers' Company. Lon- 

 don city livery company. It was 

 granted a charter in 1638. By 

 an Act of 1814 it was provided 

 that all London -made gun barrels 

 should be marked by the company 



after being tested 

 at their proof 

 house in Commer- 

 cial Road, E., and 

 the company's 

 charter was re- 

 cognized by the 

 Gun Barrel Proof 

 Gunmaklrs'Com- Act of 1868. The 

 pany arms offices are ^ at 46, 

 Queen Victoria 

 Street, London, E.G. 



Gunmetal. An alloy of copper 

 and tin, usually in proportion of 90 

 parts of the former and 10 of the 

 latter. It thus belongs to that 

 class of alloys known as bronzes. 

 Its importance was at one time 

 much greater than it is to-day, as 

 it was for a long period the chief 

 metal used in the manufacture of 

 cannon, its place now in that 

 connexion being taken by steel. 



It is possible that the Chinese 

 prepared gun-metal and used it in 

 the making of ordnance long before 

 any other people ; the Arabs pre- 

 pared such cannon at the beginning 

 of the twelfth century ; while it is 

 probable that the cannon used by 

 the Turks at the siege of Constanti- 

 nople in 1394 were also of this alloy. 

 Its uses to-day lie chiefly in the 

 construction of parts of machinery 

 which require to have great 

 strength but where steel or iron 

 cannot be employed, as in certain 

 classes of pumps, and for the bear- 

 ings of heavy shafts. See Alloys ; 

 Bronze. 



Gunn, WILLIAM (1858-1921). 

 English cricketer. Born in Not- 

 tingham, he began to play cricket 

 for the county in 1880, and until 

 his retirement in 1904, was one of 

 the mainstays of the team. He 

 made 48 centuries, and in 25 

 seasons scored 24,899 runs. Play- 

 ing for England he scored 228 

 against the Australians in 1890, 



and his highest score was 273 

 against Derbyshire. Gunn's play 

 is regarded by most authorities 

 as model batting. A man of great 

 height and strength, he was in his 

 prime a superb fieldsman, while he 

 played association football for 

 Notts county, and also represented 

 England. For many years he was 

 the head of a business of cricket 

 outfitters. He died in Nottingham, 

 Jan. 29, 1921. Two of Gunn's 

 nephews, John and George, played 

 cricket regularly for Nottingham- 

 shire. 



Gunnedah. Town of New South 

 Wales, Australia, in Buckland co. 

 It is situated on the Namoi river, 

 and is a road junction, 191 m. from 

 Newcastle by rail. The district is 

 liable to inundation when the rains 

 are heavy. Good coal occurs in the 

 neighbourhood. Pop. 4,100. 



Gunner. Private soldier in the 

 artillery who serves a gun, as dis- 

 tinguished from a driver, who is in 

 charge of horses. The rank of 

 master gunner is peculiar to the 

 garrison artillery. The 3rd class 

 master gunner holds the highest 

 rank of non-commissioned officer, 

 and master gunners of the 1st or 

 2nd class are warrant officers. See 

 Artillery, Royal. 



Gunnersbury. District of Mid- 

 dlesex, England. It is between 

 Baling and Acton on the N. and 

 Brentford, Kew, and Chiswick on 

 the S., and is served by the District 

 and N.L. Rlys. The estate, which 

 includes a park, was purchased in 

 1761 for Princess Amelia, daughter 

 of George II, whose parties here 

 were famous. Gunnersbury House 

 was sold in 1786, pulled down in 

 1801, rebuilt on a smaller scale, and 

 superseded in turn by a mansion 

 belonging to the Rothschild family, 

 into whose hands the estate came 

 about the middle of the 19th cent. 



GUNNERY IN NAVAL WARFARE 



John Leyland, Author, The Royal Navy, etc. 



This article deals with naval gunnery, corresponding facts about 



land guns being in the articles A rtillery ; Ballistics, etc. See also 



Ammunition; Explosives; Gun 



Naval gunnery is an exact 

 science, and at the same time a 

 practical art. It is based upon 

 knowledge of internal ballistics, by 

 which is meant the behaviour of 

 the gun and its projectile under the 

 pressure of the gases generated, 

 and of external ballistics, which are 

 concerned with the flight of the 

 projectile at various ranges, and in 

 various conditions, this matter be- 

 ing the first condition of accurate 

 aim, apart from the movement of 

 the firing ship and her target. Upon 

 the efficient use of her guns depends 

 the fighting value of a battleship, 

 battle-cruiser or light cruiser. The 

 gun remains supreme in action. 



By the gun the Bliicher was de- 

 stroyed in the Dogger Bank battle, 

 and by the gun the Indefatigable, 

 Invincible, and Queen Mary were 

 sunk in the battle of Jutland. By 

 the gun also the German Fleet suf- 

 fered such terrific injury in that 

 engagement, though most of its 

 ships returned to port, that the 

 fleet never issued to sea again to 

 seek another fight. Conditions be- 

 ing equal, the biggest gun will pre- 

 vail. Combined with speed, it has 

 often enabled a ship to choose her 

 own distance for firing, outside the 

 range of her adversary. 



The tendency of recent progress 

 has been to increase the firing 



