The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1886.

Kumara Times, Issue 2888, 30 January 1886, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1886.

His Excellency Sir William Francis Drummoud Jervois, Lieutenant-Gen-eral in her Majesty's Army, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Oder of Saint Michael and Saint George, Companion of. the Most Honourable Older of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over her A[ajtsty'« Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies and Vice-An'mim) of the sine, hfing fibotit to visit the WVst Coasi; of this island, it will no doubt he interesting to most of our leaders to know that .Sir William is not merely a " live Governor," but, that he is a thoroughly practical soldier, and one of the best civii and militaiy engineers to he found. His principal object in visiting thin Coast is probably to see the llokitika, G;eymouth, and Westport harbours. The following sketcli of his life is from an Auckland periodic*l :

Sir W. F. D. JervoiM, C 8., G.C.M.G., is, with the exception of Sir Geor«'e (■hey, the most distinguished vieeregent yet appointed to act as her Majesty's representative in these lands. A, soldier himself, ho is the son of a soldier, his father being General Jervoin, R.H., Colonel of 70th Regiment. •Sir William was born at the Isle of Wight in 1821, and is consequently now in his sixty-fifth year. At the age of eighteen he entered the Royal Engineers, and two years later, "in IS4I, proceeded to the Cape, where lie continued for seven yeais. During that period he acted as Biigade M»p>v to an expedition against the Boers subsequently being engaged professionally iu the establishment of military posts, (he construction of roads, bridges

&c, and before be left the colony \v ; is Major of Brigade to the garrison of Capetown. During the Kaffir wnr he proceeded to the frontier with Sir G. Berkeley, and made a military survey and map of Kaffraria—a work of great difficulty. Returning Home, from 1848 till 1852 he was stationed at Chatham and Woolwich, in command of a comdany of Sappers, and in the latter year he was ordered to Alderney, one of the Channel Isiauds, where he designed and executed a series of fortifications. Promoted to the rank of Major in 1854, in 1855 he was transferred to London, as Commanding Royal Engineer, and teceived an appointment to the Parliamentary Committee on Barrack Accommodation. The labours of that Committee have doue much to ameliorate the condition of our soldiers. In 1856 the post of Assistant-lospector of Fortifications whs conferred on him, and he was selected as Secretary to the Commission appointed to report nn the defences of the country. He was also a member of the Committee on the Application of Iron to Ships and Fortifications. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1861 he was in the following year appointed Deputy - Director of Fortifications, under Sir John Burgoyne. In 1863 he received the Companionship of the Honourable Order of the Bath, and was sent to report on the defences of our North American possessions. In 1864 he made another Trans-Atlantic visit, to confer with the Government of the Dominion of Canada with reference to the fortification of that Province. The Imperial Government carried out the dffences of Quebec «s recommended by him. After his return to England, his Excellency was Secretary to the Permanent Defence Committee, under the Presidency of H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge. He was created a ILC. M.G. in 1874, and in the following year received his first pro-consular appointment—the Governorship of the Straits Settlements, which he held until 1877, when he was appointed Governor of South Australia. During his residence in that Colony he has been associated with Colonel Scratchley in reporting on the defences of Australasia ; mi the recent exertions of the New Zealand Government to provide for the defence of our principal sea ports are the outcome of their recommendations. Sir Willhm is considered one of the most able officers of that regiment of able men, the Royal Engineers. Concerning him, the following appears in Griffiths' " British Army " :—" A distinguished general remarked to English Engineer officers who went to Antwerp seeking engineer advice : ' Why come to us, whr-n in your own service, in the person of Colonel (now Sir William) Jervois, you.have an authority upon modern fortifications second to no man alive?'"

Sir William made himself very popular in South Australia, thoroughly identifying himself with the people of the Colony, and taking pains to make himself acquainted with its resources and its requirements. And he has done so since his residence in NewZealand.