Jamiarv 30, 1915. 
LAND AND WATER 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE GERMAN RESERVE. 
To the Editor of Lats^dand Water. 
Sir, — There seems to me to be one possible loophole in 
Mr. Belloc's calculation, of which a supporter of the larger 
• — four million — figure as that of the Gorman reserve might 
avail himself. Of tlio 12,000,000 males who enter into the 
calculation, Mr. Belloc disposes of 25 per cent., that is 
3,OUO,000, as the usual proportion of persons unfit for military 
service. Of the rest, 2,000,000 at least are needed to keep the 
mechanism of internal industry going. But would not the 
aforesaid 3,000,000, or a very largo number of them, be com- 
petent to do even hard civil work, though unable to endure the 
exceptional ecveritiei of a military campaign? Or, if by 
themselves they were unequal to the burdens of industry, 
would not they, with the addition of 1,000,000 completely 
ablo-bodlod men, be able to do as much as the 2,000,000 which 
is Mr. Belloc's fi^xres? In that case the German.s would have 
put into the field 5,000,000, be- keeping 4,000,000 men for the 
running of the country, and possess a reserve force of 
8,000,000 men.— Yours." etc.. 
J. E. MOZLBT. 
Pembroke College, OnmVridga^ 
January 25," 1915. 
To tlie Editor of Land and Wateiv. 
Dear .Sih,— May I venture to indicate some factors which 
■eem to have escaped Mr. Belloc's attention in his " further 
note on the numbers of the German Reserve " in your issue 
of the 23rd instant 1 
Mr. Belloc says: "We have not got to guess, we know 
the total number of adult males of military ago from twenty 
to forty-fivo years inclusive, in tlie German Empire." But 
the German authorities would secrn to have cast their net over 
a much wider period than this. Youths of eighteen, and 
even youngor, seem to have been called to the colours; nor 
docs the «ge limit, of forty-five appear to apply, judging from 
the desoription we get of prisoners taken. 
Again Le says: "We know that at the venj least two 
million of able-bodied men must bo retained to ' run the 
nation.' " Surely, much of this most necessary work can bo 
done, and well done, iy men physically unfit for military 
Bcrvioe. 
Thu.s, Germany's potential reserve of men would seem 
to be appreciably larger than Mr. Belloo's contention would 
allow. But there is anotlior side to the question. 
Germany may bo able to call up and drill these men. 
She may even bo able to oflScer them quite as well as we are 
able to oflBcer our million. But when we consider the delay 
and difficulty we experience in arming, equipping and cloth- 
ing that million, with all the world open to us from which 
to draw raw material, how much greater must be Germany's 
difficulty in the task of equipping and supplying with ammu- 
nition her potential millions, with her industries stifled and 
cramped by the silent pressure of hostile sea power? 
It might not be prudent to build too confidently on this, 
but it seems at least probable that our enemy will at most be 
able to furnish from this source drafts for his existing forma- 
tions, and that he will be quite unable to form from this 
material nc^ Field Armies. — Faithfully yours, 
Geo. M. p. Murrat. 
Kingstown, 
January 24. 
To- the EJilor of tAtjD and Water. 
Deat. Sir, — With reference to Mr. Belloc's articles as to 
Che number of men that Germany still has in reserve, particu- 
larly his article in the current issue, is there not one point 
which lie has overlooked? From the 12 millions between 18 
and 45 he deducts 3 millions as being militarily unfit, and a 
fnutlier 2 millions for "able-bodied men to run the State"; 
but turely out of the 3 millions there v/ill be a very large num- 
ber who would be sufficiently able-bodied for the purpose of 
" running the State." Moreover, there may be a large num- 
ber of men from among those over 45 who would also be 
sufficiently able-bodied for the purpose. It seems to me that 
from the 3 millions and those over 45, Germany ought to be 
able to provide, if not the whole, at any rate tlie greater part 
of the 2 millioHs required to " run the State," leaving these 
free to serve in the Army ; and if I am right as to this, iti 
would about bring the figures of the reserve up to the num- 
ber of 4 millions, with which Mr. Belloc disagrees. 
It would be interesting if Mr. Belloc could give us his 
yiews as to this. — Yours faithfully, 
THE BLOCKADE. 
To the Editor of Land and Watbb. 
Sib, — Mr. Belloc asks why the blockade of Germany can- 
not bo made absolute, by which he means why she cannot 
be cut cS from obtaining anything whatsoever that is trans- 
ported by sea to neutral countries and thence transmitted to 
Germany, for nothing i^ reaching German ports direct and, 
as ho admits, we cannot intercept the products of neutral 
countries contiguous to Germany. 
The answer would seem to bo particularly easy. Wa 
are invited to defy the Declaration of Paris, to make every- 
thing contraband withoijt reference to its warlike character 
or any presumed destination for military purposes, and to 
apply the doctrine of continuous voyage to everything. To 
do any such thing would be to betray each and and every one 
of the causes for which, according to Mr. Asquith, we took 
up arms, the faith of international treaties, international law, 
and the rights of neutral states. Surely everyone must see 
how impossible that is. — I am, etc., 
A. A. MiTCHELIi. 
7, Huntly Gardens, Glasgow. 
January 19. 
THE FORMIDABLE. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir,— In reply to Uie letter of Mr. John Chadwick about 
the loss of the Formidable and the use of compressed air to 
prevent similar disasters. I think my best answer is to ask 
Mr. Chadwick whether he thinks a "naval architect of Sir 
William White's eminence would have wasted his time in 
talking to such a hopeless amateur as he plainly imagines mo 
to be. 
It was part of the necessary intellectual equipment of 
a Roval Engineer officer to be thoroughly familiar with the 
principles governing the construction of 'battleships; and as 
I spent some two-thirds of my service of forty years in dock- 
yard towns, and had watched the construction and completion 
of pretty well every type of vessel in the Navy since the laying 
down of the old Alexandra, about 1872, I am quite awaro of 
the structural difficulties he alludes to. But I am equally con- 
fdent that tJiey can he overcome. 
F. N. MAnDB. 
WATER-LOGGED TRENCHES. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
SiE, — ^Numerous letters from the trenches describe them 
as sloughs of mud slush, into which the men sink sometimes 
to the waist; others refer to the unavailing efforts made to 
ameliorate this condition by the use of pumps, due to the 
muddy mixture deranging the mechanism of the appliances. 
Such a problem could be solved by resort to mora 
primitive methods. In Eastern countries and in Eastern 
Europe and Russia it is customary to raise water from 
shallow wells and streams by the simple apparatus I will now 
describe in its application to trench slush, an apparatus 
which could be constructed in half an hour from materials 
at hand, and by which one man could dispose of several 
gallons a minute without exertion. 
14, St. Helen's Place, E.G. 
January 22. 
Haebt Knox. 
Tlie materials would consist of a short tree trunk of 
about four to six inches in diameter, or a baulk of timi <c, 
of a length sufficient to rest horizontally from one eido of a 
trench to tlie other. Alternatively of a tree stump about six 
to eight feet long, terminating in a Y-forked end. Upon 
this beam, or within the fork of the Y, is balanced a sapling 
some 20 to 30 feet long. The butt end is further weighted 
15" 
