THE INTERSCHOLASTIC FIELD DAY IN AUSTRALIA.
LONG-DISTANCE SHOTS.
Whenever the possibility of war with a foreign power is discussed, the subject of the range of heavy ordnance comes up, and the question is asked as to how close a fleet need come to our coasts in order to bombard our cities. It is therefore of interest to know just what the facts of the case are, and to set down in a few words the greatest achievements recorded for modern artillery. The longest distance a shot has ever been fired was from the 130-ton Krupp steel gun "Monster." This projectile weighed 1890 pounds, and traversed a distance of 15 miles and a few feet. The charge was 960 pounds of powder. Few cannon of the size of the "Monster," however, have been manufactured. It was found by experiment that such big guns are too expensive luxuries, as they can only be fired from 75 to 100 times, and then become useless. The Armstrongs, English gun-makers, build a 90-ton cannon that can fire a solid projectile about 12 miles. A city or fort into which one of these cannon-balls might be dropped would not even hear the sound of the discharge of the cannon that sent it. No guns that would be used in modern warfare can carry much farther than this, and even to achieve this range the pieces have to be elevated to an angle of 45 degrees. There are very few ships, too, even in the British navy, that could stand the shock of serving as carriages for such heavy ordnance, for the recoil after a few shots would almost shake the rivets out of a vessel's plates.
Many people in society invite artists and musicians to their houses simply because they hope to have them entertain their other guests. A story is told of Signor Paganini, the violinist, who was asked to dine at the house of a person of this nature. When he entered the drawing-room the hostess looked somewhat disappointed, and exclaimed, after a short pause,
"Oh, Signor Paganini, you have not brought your violin with you!"