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Show A GERMAN ESTIMATE OF THE ERITISH'NAVY. A representative German estimate of the British navy as found in the Vos-sische Vos-sische Zeitung (translated in the current cur-rent Literary Digest), is as follows: "It is not at all impossible that Great Britain would experience as much disappointment in a naval war aa now in her struggle on land. A portion por-tion of the English press have acknowledged ac-knowledged that all is not as it should be; but the general public hardly know the extent of the corruption rampant in the navy. Many of the guns are made of bad material, are faultily constructed, con-structed, and have wrong calibre. Guns must be manufactured with the utmost precision, else thes are likel sto burst and cannot be depended upon for accurate ac-curate shooting. Krupp, for instance, owes his reputation to the fact that nothing is allowed to leave his works ere It is thoroughly tested and able to pass the most rigorous inspection. No-win England it is very common for cabi- , net ministers to be interested in large industrial establishments, and to draw large sums as shareholders or directors. It is, therefore, easy to understand that government contracts are not given to, the most reliable firms. Thus the guns obtained from the Italian branch of the Armstrong company are said to be very faults. (Naturally a part of the Italian artillery also leaves much to be desired.) Faults calibre is a serious matter. For if the ammunition of, a gun should run short It may be found that ammunition suppliel for another gun nominally of the same calibre, is useless, and a gun is put out of action. To this must be added that many ships are armed with old, inferior guns, and therefore hardly able to cope with an enemy carrying the best modern artillery. artil-lery. "The quality of the crews leaves much to be desired. Their discipline is not good, and that counts almost for more nowadays than personal courage. Their training also is faulty. There can.be no doubt that the British navy has ships which might well be the envy of any nation, but ort the average that navy is certainly- not what it is 'cracked up to be, and it may with certainty be assumed that the German excepting, of course, in point of numbersis num-bersis much more serviceable." |