A WAR CORRESPONDENT’S MEMOIRS.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 November 1923, Page 3

A WAR CORRESPONDENT’S MEMOIRS.

Mr E. F. Knight, tile veteran war correspondent. w hose "it enn nisei lees have iiisl been puhlished. was horn in i-Jl l . end siiivlv lev : ■•op!c leav e managed ta crowd a) many exciting experiences iiiin lb" space o! a single liletimo. Mis taste for adventure was iuhe: ite.-l, ler he came of Frilling stock, being i lie scion oi a well-knowti Vvc-t country family ol soldiers and legisluiors. As a boy he -pent many el his holidays in in a canoe, navigating single-handed the dangerous eso; ih" Seine and Loire, and lieeatue a -kill'd seaman. lie was in Eranee at the outbreak oi' the Fraiieo-i’riissian war. and promptly ii'aniued 2d mile., to clfer his .services, winch however were refit-cd on the ground that lie was a foreigner. When a mere lad he went a 1 o ll e <>n a walking lour into the heart ~i Algeria then a much wilder place thrill it is now. •iceuiug under llm stars and iivili ir "it native Lire. Mr Knight himself wished to go mto the ai mv. hut hi- p'i rents decreed Hr,! lie 'should h.-cyiue a lawyer, and oiler passing through Catribridge !m was dniv e.'ili d m to Bar. But ">r one of hi- habits and itorexts. the pros- ,,, ci of silting m ohnmoors ami wait|,,r i,ri"|. lie! I no attraction, and lie eagerly welcomed the krsl opp.n----1 unity that presented itseim;l escaping from the preoiuts of the lent ale. tie accented an invitation to join a party which was going to make its way from Adriatic to Turkey, throng,. Albania. Then, as now. Albania mol an unsavory reputation ior lawlessness, hut that, it anything, was a recom-

mendation in -Mr Kmc.at - i.ws p 1 Trieste they met Richard Barton, the famous traveller, who was Li'iti-u Consul there. Burton gate them some me I u I advice, warned U. -m mat t.n-y would nrobahlv liud themselves in middle',if a fierce guerilla war hep. e autumn, and counselled tm in to ex . vise discretion. as otherwise Huy would he taken Ac- >pu - and lose me" heads Burton's anti, ipatioip- ueal .y proved correct. Mr E night »> arrested bv the tribesman a- a spy could not sneak their language, ami Uhl have* been executed but nnarivul of a monk who spoke Latin, uml v, li uu Mr Knight was ado to cv plain bis business and imtioua.it.. The incident supplies a strong argmo,it in favour of compulsory Next, the author bought an eigl. o ton vawl and made the voy age across the Atlantic and un t„- Hate t e Parana, and the Paraguay. w mb described in the classic C . „..,,iVss to knew anything about sailing paid hand, who did the cooking ami eouid take his trick at the helm -'-rrllm h£ the'Baltic Vud’ the North Sea. where he explored h’s intricate maze of island channels off the Freisan coast, which, during the Vi;; ; Wnr, wf" « lurking plnoo for

German submarines and destroyers. However, it was as a war correspondent that Mr Knight had many of his most interesting experiences. When he entered the fraternity, the war correspondent was at the very summit of his prestige. The tradition established bv Kiuglake, Archibald Forbes, and de Blowitz had net been undermined. There was no censorship. The correspondents enjoyed unique privileges and authority. They were the confidants of generals and oltcn acted as intermediaries between belligerents. I hex could, at their own risk, go where they pleased. No one interfered with their movements. Later on in South Africa there were some restrictions, although Mr Knight shows that Kitchener was not so antagonistic to correspondents as i- generally supposed. But throughout. the greater part ol this period the (niTc.-pomleiii had the utmost freedom. The change came during the Rus-a-.)aj>-ancse war. when a most distinguished assembly of writers was kept kicking its heels in Japan. They did not like il. Indeed, il broke. Rennet Burleigh's heart. But ever since then the war cui'respondent ha 1 - heeii subjected to a must rigorous and jealous control to which Ids predecessor in (lie erall was

(plile a straugei-. During the period of Mr Knight'active eatoer Britain fought no war on European soil. But there was plenty of lighting in various parts oi the world, including Europe, and Mr Knight saw most ol it. He went through the llunza Nngar campaign on the Thibetan border, and was pressed into serviie—all entluiasiie conscript—l,v tin* British commander. In these operations there occurred some jil the incidents which Mr Rudyard Kipling worked up in several of Ills short stories. Afterwards Mr Knight went on northward to I’amir Plateau, and bis ailv; litures provided him w ith me material in "Where Three Empires Mori. Then the Match,-h- war 0a which lie m<-i (Veil Rhodes and Dr J amc-on), it ml by way ef relaxation, a "walk" from Rlmdesia to Rid'a. in Portugese East Africa. Tie n tin* Madagascar war and the Dnimola Expedition, in which he made Kitchener'- ae|Uaintaime. Next, the Turko-Greek war. hark to Sudr.n. and theiiee to Ahys-inia. where such disaster overtook Dalian arms . The iiovi war lo engage Mr Knight - atft'nt ion was the one between Spain and America, and in ibis he wa- taken prisoner. Seim afterward- South Alrira called Inin again, and lie returned minus an arm which 1m k-l in the battle of Belmont. Then, after an interlude in oiistr.'ntiiiople during the revolution, the Croat War. To Mr Knight's unbounded regret lie was not allowed an active part in this, hut lie derived some eon-olalion ir,m being sent iu fl-etamt "lo write about rebels ami their lon I doings." It is a faseinal ing record illuminated throughout by the t'—(irous and allractive personality ol its author.