DEATH OF LORD KITCHENER.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 January 1922, Page 4

DEATH OF LORD KITCHENER.

FOUNDATION FOR A SPY MELODRAMA.

TILE FILM DENOUNCED

■I LONDON,' Nbv. 18 i 1 Lord'Kitchener’s death" through tho | destruction of the Hampshire in the North Sea has' been made'tile subject! of a melodramatic film, but no approval , has yet been given by the British Board of Film Censors to its public presentation. Indeed, a good many protests have been made, one coining from Lord Kitchener’s sister, Mrs Parker, who lived in Nbw Zealand' for a considerable number of years. This week the film 1 waS slkAvri to an audience, supposed to comprise none but' tlie me*nbers of the two Houses of Parliament and their personal friends. It had been rumoured beforehand that the Government was opposed to the film being exhibited in. public, and the ostensible object of the exhibition was to .obtain the opinion of M.P’s as to what justification jffierje was 'for"such' alleged hostility. Much stress was laid on tile absolute authenticity of the story told by the film iii its main details, and it was noted that Sir George Arthur, Lord Kitchener’s confidential friend, played personally in the film, and that extracts from his life of the great soldier were thrown on the screen to explain much of the action. For these and other reasons the audience was in a very critical mood, and followed all the incidents depicted on the screen with sustained attention. OUTLINE OF THE STORY.

The film opens with the departure of Lord Kitchener for Egypt on one of the first fateful days in August, 1914. lie is seen to embark on the Channel steamer at Dover. AT on. just before the vessel casts off fro in tho quay, a •special messenger from the Prime Minister dashes up, and Lord Kitchener returns to London to tale? up the reins at the War Office Thereafter various scenes display the awakening of Britain’s 'manhood and the magic growth of the great armies that were to save civilisation. Up'to this point, in spite of the fact that no sufficient care has been displayed in many detafls, such as uniforms and so on, there is not much that a layman can object to if one ex,cepts a few of the sub-titles, which may not be considered in the best of taste by some persons. In one the definite claim is made that the whole idea of “the greatest invention of the war,’’ tho tank, was conceived by Lord Kitchener on September nth, 1914, ami carried out by Captain Mode Bentley, who makes a momentary appearance on tlie screen iu person.

• The “great betrayal” is shown as : the work of a German woman, the ! widow of an English o ficer. killed in I tlie early days of the war. She apparently discards mourning almost immediately, and is seen at si'fashionable i modiste’s buying clothe; she can not ■afford'. The tempter steps in, in tae .guise of a' suave German agent, wh» ioffers to pay her well if she will a*t as in spy. She consents without much {reluctance, and eventually worms out jof a young English officer who is to 'accompany Lord Kitchener to Russia jail the details of the' journey. The •German agent who employs her thcreJupon exclaims, before lie despatches Itihe news abroad: “Tlie war lias been j won, and won by a woman.” Rasputin is show'll in the wireless room at Tsar-isiroe-Selo apparently communicating lt!ie information to Berlin. Orders aie ■immediately sent owt for the tor- • pedoing of the Hampshire, and the young officer whose indiscretion is supposed to have led to tho tragedy is {drowned as well as Lord Kitchener. HOSTILE RECEPTION.

t On the completion of the exhibition, jwhich lasted nearly two hours, those {present were invited to express their [opinion about the filfu. It was im- | mediately obvious that'tlie general imipressinn was by no means favourable. | Miss Kitchener, another sister of the 1 Kield-Marshal, protested against tii« !suggestion that a British officer would ■allow a German spy to obtain England's secrets through him. When ■this remark was questioned, ske re--splied, spiritedly, “British soldiers—no! I Politicians—yes!”

J “1 worked closely with Lord Kitobjener,” Major-General Sir Stanley von jDonop said, “during the whole time sthat lie was at the War Office, and 1 'dislike intensely tho feeling that his ■ great work should be mixed up with a intiv'cl. I protest against this story that, the Hampshire was sunk in cotisdquonco of enemy spying. I discussed the matter with to: 1 Jellicoe, and he confirmed my view. Where is the nutltdritv for this film story?”

SCAN DA LOU Si AND RIDICULOUS.’

A a M.P. said that the film was “scandalous and 1 ridii'iiitius,” a lemark that fnought dissenting murmurs miother M.P. said: “!’ ant ail ex-dfliter, and this film does not leave on - -. >’

iiiriipression' Of the British officer, or of the way in which' society co> ■ ■ oil itself during the \\nr. ,; Tins stntemerit waYs greeted with s.-o:r planse. .Mr A. R. N’ewbori'ld, M.F., a leading figure in the industry, raid, ‘' f do not accept for a mbVnCn'i: the story in the film. Tliat is to say, 1 do not believe that the Hampshire was lost as the result of any direct information conveyed from this country to Germany.” A statement is made by Sir George Arthur, the biographer horri Kitchener, that he has no association with the film, either financially or otherwise. “The utmost P did,” lie said, “was to give leave to the producers to utilise certain passages, from my book. The spy part of the story lias some substratum of truth. That is all I can say on the matter.” Altogether, it may be said the general impression left oh the audience was that the film is objectionable from several points of view, and not very interesting or well constructed. The French Government, it was stated, hnd‘ asked to bte supplied with a copy for the State archives. , .. . SINKING OF THE HAMPSHIRE. Tn protesting against the film, the “Daily Mail” explains some matters which are not generally known. “TlnUt the Germans knew of Lord Kitchener's intended jonflYC'y to Russia from Russian soiWces" i r s probable.” says that journal in a leading article, “as everything leaked out at Petrograd, and, the place was full of German spies. Thii't they were able in consequence to sink

tl'.e Hampshire and kill Lord Kitchener is sheer nonsense. The Hampshire sailed from Scapa in the aftcrndon of June 1 sth, 1D1B." It had been •intended that she should go out hy tlifc channel generally used and. pass up tiie eastern coast of the Orkneys. On the eve of Kitchener's departure, a strong gale was blowing from the east, and at the . very last minute it was decided that | the Hampshire should take another j rarely used channel to the west, and j pile’s ufrtile west coast of the Orkneys, . so afi to ob'trfin some' shelter from the, stbrin. No one could know of that, (liaiig’e of plan in Lonclo*i, Pettogi.n , , or Berlin. “By a, mere accident, some days previously,' a German' submarine had diim'fted a number of mines off the west coast of the' Orkneys, and into these tile'H*arkpshife steamed, and was sunk. By another accident, as the Hampshire w6s going'out, the wind' changed and blew violently from the west, so that ho 1 mine-sweepers could precede her. TlWse'facts prove tlidt no deep-laid plot was responsible for her destruction, out the tragic shifts and' changes of the weather: ThC GefiWari subiriarihe had been 1 despateM' to ‘mind in’ the Grand Fleet, not to kill Lord Kitchener; but unless' this is not definitely and clearly placed-'on' recordi there is the' risk that posterity will accept a foolifeh fiction as the trutli.”

A' NEW,ACCOUNT.' To-day the “Daily Mail” gives the public a new account of the events which, led up to" the death of Lord Kitchener, and it also gives from a naval correspondent, » su hi iii ary taken from Lord Jellicoe’s work, “The Grand Fleet.” The new story as related yesterday to. the “Daily Mail” runs: “Lord Kitchener and his staff, including Colonel Fitzgerald, arrived at Thurso, Cathness. on the morning of June sth., 1916. There they embarked in a destroyer and were taken' to Lord Jellicoe’s flagship, the Iron Duke, at Scnpa., Orkney Islands. The Field-Mar-shal had luncheon with Lord Jollicoe, then commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet, and afterwards went on board the Hampshire, which was moored alongside, for his voyage ho Russia. At that time a great westerly gale was blowing, causing mountainous seas in the west-about passage to the Orkneys, while the east-abriut passage, protected by the situation rf the islands from tlie full force of the Atlantic rollers, was comparatively calm.

“To decide whieh route tlie Hampshire should follow rested with the High' Command. The officer in charge of the patrol and responsible for the eastern passage, and based in Margaret’s Bay, was not prepared to guarantee that the passage was free, from mines or submarines. It was therefore decided that the Hampshire should take the western passage. Some days before a German submarine had laid a small minefield—l 3 mines— on that

course. PATROL’S SEARCH. “About 4.30 the Hampshire, with Lord Kitchener on board, set out from' Scapa, . preceded by two destroyers. Less than a dozen miles out the escort had t'o put back; the seas were too terrific. for these small craft to live in them. But the Hampshire kept cn. The next thing that! was known was contained in a wireless message at 6.30 p.m. to the patrol boats sheltering at Periwal Head, to the north of Marwick Head, and that all assistance was to be rendered.

The ship was 1 not described, and it was thought by the patrol officers that a merchantman had gone ashore. The gale was raging violently, but the commander of the patrol put out in his flagship, the steam yacht Zaza, accompanied by a) trawler, the Selby, while land parties were despatched from Stromness in motor-cars along the coast to search for and assist any survivors. The- trawler could not live in tlie mountainous seas, and had to' put back, but the yacht kept on, and reach ed its destination just before mid-night. After standing by until daylight, the seas were searched, but without avail. It was then learned that it was the Hampshire which had been mined a mile or so off Marwick Head, but again search was useless. t “In the meanwhile the eoa*t seurch parties from Strdmness had been more successful. Two young officers, one being a doctor ilainCd Piclaiji, found a raft to which a number of sailors were clinging, being claslibd to pieces on the i-oclfs not far from Marwick Head'. The sailors, notwithstanding their peril and the hurts* they suffered from the buffetting, were singing arid making the Wst •f matters'. They were quickly riescried by ropes, but dould toll little of the disaster. Matty days later a dinghy of the Hampshire was picked up Off the Dririttet Head, riiany miles sririth of w herc the warship was miried. In it, .jattimod lirider a thivart. was the body, hardly lricbgnisahlo, of Colonel Fitzgerald. “The theory advanced in naval circles is that T/ttrd Kitchener and Colonel Fitzgerald, who was devotedly attached to the Field-Marshal, wore placed in the dinghy with a. naval officer to navigate it, as tlifc otte chatted of saving Lord Kitchener’s life. Although the little boat lived through tho storing tlie field-Mershal and the sailor, it is, thought, were swept overboard and drowned, attd Colohel Fitzgerald, was ottly saved from a similar fate by being jammed, probably by the wave whieh swept the others away, under the thwart.

“Tt is suggested that if more explicit instruction bad been given to tbe patrol boats as to tbe lihip in distress, and the point at which it met disaster, the Zaza eOuld hake followed a course which would have enabled it to pick lip any persons in 1 boats drifting front the wreck. It is also stated that subsequently sweeping operations in the western channel accounted for 12 of the 13 niines known to have been laid the'rC—the 13th sank the Hampshire.” LAST GIMPSE OF KITCHENISR. The Naval correspondent vOeallf? that Lord Jellicoe, in “The Grand Fleet,” states that, Owing to a violent gale blowing, front the east, it wan though# inadvisable to send the Hampshire with Lord Kitchener aboard, Out by the east eru channel from Scop a Flow. At the last moment it was decided that efae should use the western channel, when it was hoped that she would obtain shelter from the terrific seas under the lee of the Orkneys. Unfortunately after this decision had been reached, and the Hampshire had started the

wind shifted to the west and she encountered a' heavy stoirni on her way out. The seas' were such that it was impracticable foir the destroyers, of which two* had been told oft to guard her, to keep with her. According to a. German .account pub- , Itshed early this year, the submarine 1J75 laid 34 mines at various points on I the' western route up the Orkney coast, ' one' of wl&icH ' sank a mine-sweeper on j June 3rd, two days before Lord Kitchj crier started from Scapa; and owing to j the' confusion following, on the Bhttle ! of Jutland, which was fought on May j 31’-June 1, the news of this minefield i failed to reach. Lord Jellicoe. Whe- ! ther Lord Kitchener left the ship in a i boat is uncertain. The official account ! issued by tliei Admiralty stated that the | captain was heard calling for Lord Kitj chener to go into the captain s boa-t. j but’ that no evidence was obtainable as |to whether he did so or not. One of j the survivors saw Him last “on the ; starboard side of the Hampshire, talkj ing with his officers.”