CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 54, 7 June 1916, Page 5

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

Sensation after sensation has followed so quickly on the heels of Time that the British Nation accepts them now as the natural corollary of events in the immensity of this Great War. Not that the British Lion ever was known to have had his tail down! Fai he it from the writer to suggest the possibility of such scepticism of our strength . ami,, the patriotism that is in us, or the belief that we could descend to such a depth of pessimism But looking back upon the past few months, one must be struck with the quickly-succeeding events 01 an natuie for which the history of the Nation has no parallel. Leaving the great-events in the general operations of the Wai to themselves (with which familialLj has bred in all a modicum of con : tempt), mention might he made of the disappointment of Kut-el-Amara, the thunderbolt of the Irish Rebellion, Italy’s plight in the Trentino, the loss of. thousands of brave sailonnen in the naval fight of last iveek, and last, though 'by no means least, comes the tragic - death of the soldier-idol of the Natibai; The loss of Lord Kitchener wirf'ibe 1 deplored by ■ tnousands as dishstet 'almost of a [national chai - actier. While ‘ the world will still g'-t rotliid,’ and the relentless prosecution of the War will still provide the aching void in many tlm brilliant constructive mind of “K. of K. is lost forever fo Our cause. The late Ccmmander-ih-Chief was personally ■known to many residents of New Zealand; others again recall with pleasant memories the glimpse they caught of the stalwart figure as he passed through the Dominion less than eight years ago; while none hut infants hear the flame, in ignorance. .Yet now must the arm-chair critics hold thentongues, and pause tor a memonarn. Remember the words of the American author, Simms, who says: ‘‘We have to toU .awhile, endure awhile, believe always'/ arid" never turh back, r

A DISTINGUISHED CAREER. Kitchener of Khartoum,' Yisconnt Horatio Herbert Kitchener, was the eldest son of the late Lieutenant-colo-nel If. H. Kitchener, of A spall Hall, Suffolk, and entered the Royal Engineers in 1871,. after passing through the Royal Military Academy, Moolwich. He was engaged on the Palestine survey from 1874-8, and from 1878-82 on the Cyprus survey. He then went to Egypt,where he remained till he had achieved the reconquest of the Soudan (1898), and was ordered to South Africa as Lord Roberts’s chief of staff (1899). During the intervening sixteen or seventeen years ho was fully employed fighting and organising. He commanded the Egyptian cavalry (1882-4); took part in the Nile expedition (1881-5) for the relief of General Gordon, when he gamed brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel, was governor of Suakin (1880-8), ad-jutant-general of the Egyptian army (1888-92); wounded at Handub (1888); commanded a brigade at the battle of Toski (1889), and was rewarded with a O.B.; and sirdar of the Egyptian army (1892-9) in succession to Lord Grenfell. He commanded the Dongola expeditionary force in 1896; and for his services was promoted and created K.C.B. The crowning triumph of his arduous work in Egypt, and of the labours of the British officers who had been associated with him, was reached in 1898, when, at the Atbara (Aprils) and Omdmman (September 2), he routed the dervishes and completely destroyed the power of Mahdisra. t)ueen Victoria raised him to the peerage in

recognition of his great victories, and

Parliament voted him a sum of £30,i 000,, and, by formal resolution, thanked him . “for the distinguished skill and ability” with which he planned and conducted the’ campaign on the Nile of 1896-8. During a flying visit to England on the conclusion of the Sudan campaign, Lord Kitchener raised £IOO,OOO for the foundation of an educational college at Khartoum in memory of General Gordop. During the Boer War he went to South Africa with Lord Roberts as chief of staff, January lpoo. He assumed supreme command on November 29, and waged war against the Boers by a system of ‘blockhouses’ and extensive ‘drives,’ till he secured an honourable peace on May 31, 1902. King Edward 'sent him a congratulatory telegram on termination of hostdit es, and raised him in the pfeorage to a viscountcy. Parliament voted him a sum of £50,000, and thanked him for

his great services to the empire. Lord Kitchener returned to England on July .12, 1902, and proceeded to India to take up the chief command in the following November. In 1902 ho wasplaced on the, establishment of generals, and in 1909 was raised to the rank of field-marshal. In the same year the Duke of Connaught resigned his appointment of field-marshal com-mander-in-chief and high commissioner in the Mediterranean, and Lord Kitchener was appointed in his place—Sir Frederick Forestier Walker acting in the interim. Lord Kitchener, however, never took up the appointment, and resigned it early in 1910. In 1911 he was made a Knight of St. Patrick, and succeeded Sir E. Gorst as British agent and consul-general in Egypt. The events of the past five years are so well-known that they need not ho recapitulated. -On the outbreak of war, Lord Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, and his magniJC Int system of organisation in that position (including the raising of over five million of an army) stamped him as the greatest liyingi militarist. His efforts during the trying time of the Nation will he an everlasting monument. “K. of K.”, as he was familiarly called, had reached, the age of 6G. - ; • H.M.S. HAMPSHIRE.

The Hampshire, which belonged to the Devonshire class, was an armored cruiser displacing 10,850 tons, 450 feet in length, with engines of 20,500 horsepower, giving a speed of 22.3 knots. Her armament consisted only of four 7.5-in. and six 6-in. guns, with twenty small quickfirers and two torpedo tubes. The maximum coal • capacity Was 1800 tons, A complement of 655 officers and men was carried. The total cost of the' 'Hampshire was nearly £900,000. She was completed in 1905-6. SCENE OF THE DISASTER. !‘-L; ,'.!y*, ;. r i:.-\ . ,i .- ,/ '• ■ ■: The Orkneys are a group of islands off the nortlj coast of Scotland and separated from .the mainland by the Pentland Forth, which is six to eight miles broad. In all nearly thirty are inhabited. The largest, Pomona or Mainland, contains Kirkwall, the capital, and Strornness, the only towns in the group. The chief other islands are Hoy, North and South Ronaldshay, Ftotta, Rousay, Sanday, Stronsay, Westray, Shapinsay. and Eday islands. The Orkneys were subdued in 875 A.D. by Harold Haarfager, first king of Norway, and were, ruled by Scandinavian jarls down to 1231, and in 1468 were pledged to the Scottish crown. The inhabitants exhibit less marked Scandinavian characteristics than those of the Shetlands. The area of the Orkneys in 376 square miles and the population numbers about 26,000. THE DEATH OF A SOLDIER. Apropos of the flying of flags halfmast during wartime, a local correspondent, signing himself “Admirer, ' writes to the editor of the “Post,” and room for his opinions may appropriately, he found in this column. May 1 ask, he says, the reason of flags on pa hit: buildings in Stratford being flown at “half-mast” on receipt of the news of Lord Kitchener’s death through the torpedoing of the H.M.S. Hampshire Everyone regrets the loss of such a capable and trustworthy organiser as Lord Kitchener, but, surely, this is not a time for a display of what I might call “absolute chagrin” over the loss of such a perfect General. The Minister of Defence recently told us not to oh serve mourning, it being considered an honor, not a bereavement, to lose -i relative on the field of battle; For the | same reason, a flag is not flown at halfi mast when a soldier is killed in action. I Surely Lord Kitchener was “in action” 1 when he was passed into the Great Beyond. He died as a and a man. and most assuredly lie was entitled to more than a half-masted recognition. Certainly, we all mourn his departure. But let us show how proud we were of j him. Fly your flags at the mnstj head in bis honor, and say, while j uncovering your heads, “He was a soldier and a man.”