THE SHADOW CAST BEFORE

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 205, 1 September 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE SHADOW CAST BEFORE

Premonitions of death have, of course, been common during the .war. In the "London Daily Telegraph'' oi June 9th we find a special correspondent, who witnessed the return of our lighting slips to harbour after the recent great naval battle, thus referring to the absence of two ot theni, the "Invincible"' and the "Indefatigable": — They had been part of thr- pr co of victory. Somewhere out in the North Ssa the two ships were lying shattered, and two men who had been my fronds would never return to port. It may appear strange, but it is the fact- - neither of those men expected to return. There is a phase of sailor psychology which has been impressed some, what vaguely upon me in various areas of the seven sens, but with impressive lone since the war began. Students o f psychology al phenomena may deal more carefully with the matter. lam only concerned with the presentment oi the facts. Ther wacs i\ man on the "Patfinder" who to my pride regarded mo as his friend . He spoke to me one day o£ sending off a parcel by pest. It contained nil his money and all his val uables. and the parcel Mas going to his wif?. "There is sometlrng coming to me," he said quietly, in explanaton. Within thirty hours Irs ship had been destroyed by torpedo and he had gone clown with her. So with the man on the " Indefatigable"' to whom I have referred. For a week oefore the call to action came over the wifeless lie had been in the depths of depression, and had given expression to his beret that them was "something pretty bad on the way." And tho "Invincible'' casa was sinriar. The sai.ormen have been proved sadly accurate in their forebodings, but they saw stirring work before they "went out. ' ; And now conies a similar story with regard to Lord Kitchener. It : s told in a Toulon paper. "Je J)is Tout," and is as follows : When Kitchener came some three months ago to the British front, no met at Dunkirk Commandant do Balancourt, id whom he mentioned! that :r* • lack Johnson had dropped not far ti'om him. ".That did no alarm me, "said the Field-Marsha!, "became I know I shall die at sea."

KITCHENER AS FREEMASON'. In all the Ktciiener memoirs published recently no mention seems to have l>o.m made of his M:i«on : c connection. Yet he has held some of the highest offices in the craft. Strangely enough, though he has tilled important offices 'n England, there are few Masons who can give you the name of his mother lodge. As a matter of fact. Kitchener \\:\> initiated into th" order in Egypt, and there is : n oxNtence a photograph of him wearing Mason c re-