THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1888, 12 March 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1880.

The possession of a war correspondent without any doubt gives a singularly high tone tQ. any journal. To have a representative on the spot interviewing generals, sipping coffee with pashas, running the gauntlet of guerrilla fire, writing the most interesting of descriptions in diligences as they rush from one wing of the army to the other, &c., &c, all this reflects a certain light on the happy possessors of the interesting individual. The profession of war correspondent is perhaps the solitary department of journalism that caniwith the slightest right lay any claim to be called romantic. On the outbreak of any'Europeanwar or of any of England's "Little Wars," the war correspondent may be observed hurrying to the front with martial ardor. His costume is more en regie than the strictest martinet could call for, his boots are longer than a stage ruffian's, and he is studded with pistols in a manner terrible to contemplate. Besides he possesses a despatch-box of abnormal size, and is altogether a sort of literary Mars, prepared to sharpen his pencils under cover of his shield or to grill mutton chops at the point of his spear in the true Bohemian spirit that tempers his ferocity. Such at least is the generally received conception of the war correspondent of the old country, and every leading journal in England would presumably be in despair if it could not secure for itself, when occasion required, at least one of the species. When the present New Zealand Government determined to take up a firm line with regard to its Native policy, and to send the constabulary on to the Waimate PJains, our morning contemporary, the Times," at once rose to the occasion and resolved to have a "war correspondent." , That there was no war, and probably would be no war, mattered little. The kudos of having a war correspondent could hardly be diminished, it was no doubt argued, by the unimportant fact that there was no war for him to correspond about. His paraphernalia could be as ample, his boots could be as large, and his general ; get-up as imposing, as if the Waimate iPlains were swimming in blood, and, as for matter on which to write, that difficulty might be easily overcome by a lively imagination, coupled with a facility of dragging in reminiscences of other scenes which had nothing whatever to do with the point in question. The " Lyttelton Times," having once determined that its tone and entire status should be raised by the possession of a war correspondent, was lucky enough, apparently, to secure an individual of the right stamp. How this more than typical specimen was found wandering in these prosaic parts it is impossible to guess. It is enough that he was duly sent to the front presumably with instructions to make the game as lively as possible, and how well he followed out his instructions the readers of his veracious telegrams and letters can certify. And certainly in one respect the " Lyttelton Times" was perfectly justified in its calculations. It was not necessary with such a correspondent that there should be anything startling to write about, for from the outset he has manifested a surprising talent in the manufacture of " blood and bones intelligence" on the most shadowy substratum. From the very commencement the contributors to our contemporary have been harrowed by the description of a succession of crises through which the constabulary and affairs in general are said to have passed. The crossing of the Waingongoro, the presents of food by the Natives, the moving from camp to camp have all been so touched up, as to present to the shuddering reader so many points of a terrible phantasmagoria. To the ordinary observer things have gone, considering all things, pretty smoothly, but the war correspondent, with an instinct invaluable to his employers, has seen behind even the slightest fact a seeond meaning hidden from every eye but the eye so long accustomed to sights of blood and terror.

"" But even the strongest imagination must fail to string out exciting matter when the pabullum on which to work is so limited, and interesting as the hints of the war correspondent may be, he has found it necessary to weave into the daily record of events numerous and most exciting personal reminiscences of other days, and he does so with an admirable facility. The slightest event will recall to him tremendous scenes which cannot fail to fix the attention. Should a sand fly bite him on the nose he is reminded of another sand fly who bit him on exactly the same spot on the banks of the Potomac Negro camp meetings, Indian gatherings, Parisian " sprees," are the lighter shadings of recollections which are unrolled before an astonished public, and include experiences in several of the most important wars of the present era. Then the mysterious Kimbell Bent is interviewed with the most thrilling surroundings. The account of the meeting between this extraordinary man and the no less extraordinary war correspondent, is the masterpiece of the latter. Nothing since the interview between the Kaiser Barbarossa and the " Wild Huntsman," in the depths of the Hartz mountains, has in any way come up to it. But it will be unnecessary to dilate further on the remarkable powers of this invaluable contributor to the pages of our contemporary. Enough has been said to show that as a sample of a war correspondent pure and simple—the war correspondent of the boots, despatch box, and revolver carrying order—ho is immense.

There are, however, two sides to every story. There are readers of every journal who really wish to get to the bottom, of affairs, and who, when at all bilious, feel annoyed when a dish of nothing but highly spiced impressions and reminiscences is presented to them. To these the flights and views of the war correspondent must be vexing. To bo continually told that the crisis has at last eventuated, and then to be lot down again with a nonchalance worthy of a better cause, must strain the patience of the most pertinacious admirer. Fictions, however colored, are unpleasing to one who wishes to know the truth and nothing but the truth. The imaginary picture of the unemployed who were sent from Wellingten to assist in road-makiag is a specimen of the reliability of the war correspondent. All accounts but tho one that appeared in the '• Lyttolton Times " were highly favourable to these men, whoso only misfortnne was their poverty. Many of them were late arrivals in the colony, who had been lured here under

fals* representations as to the state of trade in New Zealand. They have all, without exception, worked as well as they could at small wages, and in perfect accord with the constabulary. And yet the war correspondent, sitting perhaps on the traditional candle-box with a sabre across his knees and a bowie knife between his teeth, has branded " The Ragged Brigade," as he chooses to call them, as being comprised of about as " undesirable a class of men to introduce into the district as it is possible to conceive." Whether, after all, the status of our contemporary has been raised by the possession of this war correspondent is perhaps open to doubt.