SIR WILLIAM JERVOIS C.B. K.C.M.G.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5343, 13 May 1878, Page 3

SIR WILLIAM JERVOIS C.B. K.C.M.G.

(From the Home New, March 28.) It was the misohance of his military service, hitherto sufficiently stirring, which stranded Captain Jervois, then an officer of some fifteen years’ standing, upon the Island of Alderney just when Europe was aflame and his comrades and contemporaries were winning honors in the Crimean War. . Ho was engaged, it was true, upon engineering works of great . scope and importance, still his employment was at best inactive and dull compared with the great game afoot elsewhere. While other soldiers were growing famous, as true soldiers best love to grow famous—in tho actual clash of conflict—while colleagues and school friends were fast distancing him, ns it seemed, in tho race for preferment, while brother officers of his own corps were gaining sound practical experience in their own scientific walk of tho military profession,-.it was hard fate to bo engrossed with contractors’ specifications, with the details of draughtsmen ami tho shortcomings of clerks of works. Tho enforced inaction must have been the more irkstmio to a young m in who had already, like Horace, “fought not without glory.” In the first years of his career, whoa still quite A lad, ho found no outlet for his energies at the Capo of Good Hope beyond purely civil duties, but the time came when ho was called upon to do more than construct roads, build bridges, and establish frontier posts. The Kaffir War of 1841 arrived opportunely to give him many openings, of which he availed himself to tho full, not only in the execution of valuable surveys of vast tracts of land in close proximity to the enemy, but in the active operations of war. Not stranAdy, then, he looked askance at his more fortunate fellows, envying th m their luck, and wondering whether his turn would come again. It came, in truth, it was already close at hand, hut the direction was perhaps not that which he would have choseu himself. A royal visit to Alberuey brought him under the immediate approval of, august personages, and the Queen’s recognition of the good work he had done in tho insular defences was followed by promotion and removal to the London district as Commanding Royal Engineer. This, as it turned out, meant continued exclusion from active service in the East, but the move bad other important consequences. “ There is a divinity which shapes oor end, rough hew themhow-we may.” Something more than chance took Major Jervois to the great 1 centre of life, where standing in the gangway, as it were, he found himself unexpectedly called upon to play a- conspicuous part in great changes then pending. r ■ The period was now approaching when a fresh revolution was to take place in , war. 'The , ; new and startling discoveries of machinists, chemists,’ and. engineers ’were to be turned - to , account . in the. de votopment of; the processes of destruction. The inventions of our Armstrongs, our Whitworths, and our Pallisers began to invest modern artillery with the most terrible and ■deadly power. In length of range, in weight and calibre, modern guns daily became more and more formidable, and the apprehension grew, not without cause, that: no fortifications on land, and no ships afloat, as then constructed, would have any chance in future struggles. A total revision of our navy and of the whole pf our land; defences: was imperative. The latter were, moreover, proved to be as ludicrously inadequate in extent as , iu their character; the former, it was soon shown; would be sunk at the first encounter with ships armour-plated and properly armed. From this moment dawned a new era in defensive as well as in offensive warfare, and with the former Colonel Jervois was associated from the first. His official position had already secured for him a place upon that Barrack Accommodation Committee which had brought about such great and salutary changes in the sanitary condition and general comfort of the troops, and the services which: he bad then rendered, his shrewd, sagacious intellect, and his sound professional skill, marked him out clearly as the man of all others to assist in the development of the new ideas of attack and defence. ; Colonel Jervois was first nominated Assistant-Inspector-General -of Fortifications, his chief being the renowned Sir John; Burgoyne ; he. became - Secretary next to the Defence Committee of the : United Kingdom ; later he was appointed to serve as member of the special committee which was to report upon the application : of iron to the defences of ships and of land fortifications. The labors in these several and very onerous capacities, through which he.: passed triumphant, were herculean in their character, but the success which attended his efforts paved tho way. to his further and rapid advancement. Almost naturally, Colonel Jervois slipped into the post of ; general. adviser and responsible authority on all'matters of fortifications. The vast works which were growing into being at the most vital points, at Portsmouth,’ Plymouth, and Portland, on the Medway, at Harwich, or on the. Thames, were under his immediate control;. he might be buried near to one or other of our great arsenals, and remembered, like a new Sir Christopher Wren, by the; epitaph that his monument lay around. ; More than this, such value by this time attached to bis opinion that his counsel was eagerly sought on every side. He went to Canada on the : special invitation of the Colonial Government 1 to confer and report upon the frontier defences; he did the same for the harbors of: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ;■ he visited and; examined the seabord fprtificatioiis of the forts of the United States..,; The great Mediterranean fortresses next claimed, his attention ; Bermuda also; Quebec wasfprtifie.d according to; his recommendations ;; concerning i the harbors'at the mouih of the Red-Sea;; and he accompanied Lord Mayo to-British; Burmah to do the same for Rangoon and Moul- ■ mein. By this time, indeed, ha had earned a wpvld-wide reputation.- .Foreign States, Swit-' zefland notably, submitted to him the whole scheme of their national defences,. and were glad to follow his advice.; So highly was he, esteemed upon the Continent that when a special mission of ' scientific, officers were despatched to inspect the fortifications of Antwerp, General .Brialmont said, surprised, “ Why do you come to us, when you have in Colonel Jervois an engineer almost without equal in his time 1” To this high reputation as a military engineer South Australia owes its good fortune in securing Sir William Jervois as its present Governor. „ Summoned hastily from the Straits to which his able management of the Perak troubles bad at length given peace' aiid quiet, he joined Colonel Soratohley at Melbourne to co-operate with him and discuss the question of Australian defences. While thus engaged the Government of South Australia suddenly fell vacant through the deplorable illness of Sir William Cairns, and Sir William Jervoisj to the delight of the , people, was forthwith inducted into the place. He has hold office little more than six months, and yet the announcement of his , return to England^ —in which'he has within the last few days : arrived—was hailed with ' unfeigned regret, not nnmlxed with apprehension that be does not mean ; to return. Such rumers hro 1 probably , absolutely groundless. .Sir William’s temporary leave of absence has been' rendered imperative by the pressure of private affairs, and he himself affirms that be is most anxious in due’ coarse to return. But the general expression of regret at his departure, and the fear that accompanies it, is the heatproof of the estimation in which he is held. Already Sir William Jervois has given abundant evidence of that untiring energy which is one of his strongest characteristics. ‘ To matters of deep colonial importance he has given already the fullest and most concentrated attention. In such work as the engineering operations for improving the mouths of the Murray, and reducing the difficulties of its navigation, he is naturally quite at home ; but his. eager,spirit throws itself also into all questions which affect tho general welfare of the province. Ha has a plain, straightforward method of dealing with men which soon wins them over to his views. His manner is short and sharp, after the way of' his,cloth, and his speech rapid; he goes straight'to his point without circumlocution or' delay. This plain speaking all who servo with or under him have already learnt to appreciate. He may tell colonists just as be has told colleagues or subordinates, many home -truths jn somewhat brusque, decisive , language, but the evident honesty of purpose which iinderUM them remqyes almost

before it is formed any unpleasant impression they might occasion. ' When the scarcity of domestic servants in South Australia has grown into a positive nui-anee he will not hesitate probably to recommend the importation of Chinese, just as he would have told the Canadians they must substitute new for old methods of defence. This conviction that his advice and all his utterances have but one object—the advancement of the public good—has secured for him, and will probably preserve, his popularity. He will have the opportunity of largely increasing it on his return by his hospitalities at Government House. It is not too much to say that the success of each regime is not a little dependent upon social conditions. Adelaide has so long been widowed in this respect that it welcomes with additional pleasure the return of a Governor who comes back as a family man.

If it be Sir William .Tervoia’ intention to pursue further the career of the proconsul which he has now fairly entered, and in whiclr he has already achieved an undoubted measure of success, he is very happily placed at his present post. South Australia is still junior in point of years to many of its neighbors, but it is not far behind any of them in enterprise, breadth of policy, or intelligence. The education of governorship will be well carried on in such a province, and lie who gradutes here with honor may reasonably expect translation to higher spheres. There are many concurrent signs that at no great distance of time larger, if not more interesting, changes close by may fall to Sir William Jervois, should he elect to remain at the antipodes. Having so decided, it may be counted as nearly certain that he will continue to gain the goodwill of those over whom he is called to preside. ■