MR ARCHIBALD FORBES' LECTURE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3598, 23 January 1883, Page 2

MR ARCHIBALD FORBES' LECTURE.

The experiences of a Avar correspondent, as depicted by Mr Archibald Forbes, irresistibly brought to the minds of old colomsts some of the hardslups incidental to the early settlement of a hcav country. But, added to the ordinary hardships of a bush life, so familiar to many of us, the war correspondent has to face dangers of wliich Aye haA'o'had little experience. It was to tell us of some of these, to let us knoAv lioav the neAvs for which AA'e crave is obtained, that Mr Forbes met his audience last night at the Theatre. It possibly neA-er occurred to the ordinary ncAvspaper reader lioav much the special correspondent had to go through to place before the public the " latest from the front." A man must be specially gifted in order to fulfil the duties of a " special." To great power of physical endurance he must unite undaunted courage and determination; he must be a linguist, and he should be a gentleman; and, as Mr Forbes said, it would be all the better if he were '' big enough and ugly enough '' to make it aAvkward to those who Avould cross him. The '' Experiences of a War Correspondent" Avere the experiences of Mr Forbes, and the singular charm of ; the lecture was the absence of egotism; the modesty of the lecturer in keeping himself in the background was a feature that a less successful or a less celebrated man would not have studied. The lecture consisted of a few rapid sketches of some of the incidents of the Avars in Avhich Mr Forbes Avas employed as a special correspondent of the London Daily Noavs. In his relation of the condition of Paris after the scige; in his account of the unsuccessfid attack on Flevna in the Russo-Turkish Avar ; the scene presented on the battle field of Isandula four months after the massacre; the charge of the Lancers at Ulundi; and the story of the Avonnded soldier in the Afghan Gorge, Mr Forbes presented A-ivid Avord pictures of the horrors of Avar. These graphic touches flashed through the lecture, and thrilled his hearers, Avho, breathless to listen, Avere constrained to applaud. From his introductory sketch of the banks of the Danube to the concluding story of the swift ride with the glad tidings of the victory at Ulundi, Mr Forbes kept his audience entranced for an hour and three-quarters, and brought his lecture to a close amidst loud and continued applause. The subject of the lecture tonight -will be '' Kings and Princes I have met."