The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1916. IN MEMORY OF KITCHENER.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 136, 12 June 1916, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1916. IN MEMORY OF KITCHENER.

(With which is incorporated The, Tal hape Post and Waimarino News.)

That the death of Lord Kitchener is something more than a national calamity has been made obvious by the intense sorrow that pall-like has spread over the peoples of the whole of the Empire. -Without any lead from the Authorities in the Homeland the people of the most out-of-the-way settlements rushed to show a sorrow almost amounting to reverence when the first great shock had passed. In the far corners of the earth wherever a British subject dwells, whether black or white, churches, meeting houses and even Mosques have been crowded with congregations aggregating in th e whole very many millions of people, all bent with sorrow at the loss of one that had grown to be an institution to them. In New Zealand —in Taihape—men were so dismayed, so horrified that words were unavailable wherewith to express their feelings. Yesterday, the churches in town bore testimony to the hold that the memory of Lord Kitchener has upon them, and it is doubtful whether such hug e congregations wore ever more sincere in the purpose for which they had gathered. Men and women who rarely enter a church were conspicuous there in attitudes characteristic of deep distress and intense grief. These churches were the scene of a lament hitherto unprecedented among our community. Well may it be asked what manner of man was it that could so sway the affections and admiration of an Empire, as well as the esteem, and in very many cases, the veneration of the whole civilised world; well may we examine our inmost sensations to ascertain the cause of such deep-seated emotion as evidenced in the concern we are unmistakeably, if in some case s somewhat involuntarily, displaying. In Lord Kitchener’s case to say that “He did his duty” the words convey more to our intelligences and conceptions than, probably, they ever did before. If his life of service to hi s country and to mankind in general had been blemished with only one speck of self, it would have loomed upon the otherwise spotless career so large as to have caused an universal regret. There is no cause i for any such regrets; Kitchener was the antithesis of a self-seeker. Cold man though he appeared from his re-

serve of nature, his emotions were stirred to their deepest depths at persecution; he was an unanswerable advocate of large armies, as he said, not for purposes of aggression and persecution. but to ensure that BVitain and weaker peoples were not subjected to persecution and oppression, to save them and us from fear of the invader and the would-be-destroyer of our life and national peace. No more courageous man ever lived, he could joke over hair-breadth escapes with his life, but he was no lover of war and his argument in favour of standing armies was that they would prevent war, and we know that if Britain’s army had been in accordance with Kitchener’s views the greatest scourge of war the world has ever experienced would never have materialised. It was Britain’s insignificant little army that was the determining factor with Germany in declaring war. But Germans made one grave error; they woefully underestimated the cool, calculating determination of Lord Kitchener. They will now tardily excuse themselves for their error, begat of greed, for there is ample evidence in his career that he laughed at difficulties other great men looked upon as insurmountable and impossible. All the world in general and Germany and her Allies in particular now have cause for profound regret at Germany’s miscalculation of the powers of the man who has so tragically been taken from us; and it has been said that when the life of Kitchener is truthfully and fully written it will bo so crowded with descriptions of sensational happenings, deeds of gallantry and true nobleness as to render it the most popular publication of our tune. Taihape citizens have shown by their presence in the crowded churches yesterday how much they sorrow for the loss of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, though least war-loving soldiers the world has ever produced. Even Britain’s enemies discuss his death with bated breath, their inbred reverence for a brave, powerful leader was so aroused + hat for the moment they even forgot to express anything approaching joy at the removal of the one man Avhose military powers are bringing about their complete defeat. True, it is too late for any such jubilation now, for the man s’work was done; he has left completed plan s for ending the struggle, and he was so satisfied that, as was most unusual, became joyous at seeing hn end to war and the establishment of a permanent peace not so very far off. Kitchener is more lamented throughout th'e world than any' ether commoner has been that passed over th e border before him.