LORD KITCHENER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9686, 10 January 1910, Page 5

LORD KITCHENER.

VISIT TO iUOIiIJ-A. A BUSY DAY. United Press Association-By Electric Telegraph Copyright, Received January 9, 5 p.m. SYDNEY, January 9. Lord Kitchener had a busy day yesterday. inspected the veterans and cadets at the Government House grounds, the fortress, and troops in the Middle and South camps, where operations in connection with a combined sea and land attack on Sydney are proceeding. In the evening Lord Kitchener was the guest at a State banquet in Parliament House, a large and brilliant gathering being present. "Lord Kitchener received an enthusiastic and in replying to the toast of his health said that during the [two days spent in the Liverpool camp he was much pleased and interested in the work performed by the citizen soldiers. He was much struck with the kesnness of all ranks in carrying out their duties. The strong desire expressed for an efficient force in this country was evidently felt as much by the troops as by the community at large, and considering the marked natural aptitude for military work and training most of the young Australians obtain during their bringing up, and so fully possess, he could see no insurmountable obstacle to the attainment of the result||desired. We must, however, remember that a national force can be truly efficient only when citizen soldiers besides being inspired with a spirit of patriotic loyalty have a thorough knowledge and devotion to the military profession. THs is a vital condition, and demands the exercise of considerable self-denial by all. The country on its part should support the defenders by showing pride in them, by insisting upon the abolition of all that savours of sham and uselessneas, by supplying means for them to study thoroughly and ground themselves in military duties, and by the provision of carefully con&idered necessities to ensure efficient equipment and training in readiness for war. He referred to the proof New South Wales had given of her loyalty to the Motherhood in her desire to support the Empire. He had not the slightest doubt that whenever occasion arose theyjwould see New South Wales lads shoulder to shoulder with the Imperial troops. There would be not the slightest doubt about the warm welcome they would get from the British Army. "K" is what they call him in the service. Just "K.," plain "K." Nothing else. Everybody knows what it means. Go to Egypt and talk of "K." Speak of "K."in India, in Gibraltar, in Malta, at Aldershot. j Say it to anyone who was out in Africa. Wherever you mention "K." every soldier man who hears it will J at once prick up his sars and become all attention. They all know who he is. They aH know what he has done and what he can do. They have all felt the touch of his iron hand in some way or other, from the stern clench of it has gripped the service throughout, affected it throughout. The trail of "K," the influence of"K.'\ is through it and over it. Field-Mdrshal Viscount Horatio Herbert Kitchener, of Khartuum, is his full and complete title, but in the service they would never demean him by applying such a label to him. To them he is "K.," and "K," stands for something far more than the mere man. It means a system,' a method, a phase of Empire, the art of war. Kitchener has risen rapidly. He is 59 years of age now, and he is the foremost soldier of the British Empire. He has forced his way up by sheer brain power. That is the secret of the man, the clue to his whole character. He is pure, unalloyed brain, unhampered by any other feeling of vice or virtue. Everything about him, his comfort, his method of living, his appearance, are all subordinated by tht matchless brain, all work to help it and increase its power. Nonody loves him. In Africa men went out of their way to pass near Lord Koberts in order that they might salute him. They loved him. The'whole Empire loves him. With Kitchener it was different. They said: "There's "K.." and stepped ■ out of the way to avoid meeting him. They respected him. The whole Empire respects him, is grateful to ■ him, and uses him, but love him—- '. never. On the other hand, he is not hated. Kitchener has broken many a man. Some he has worked to death. [ Some he has tossed aside as not worth using. Some he has ground tc . powder. None hate him. He is not 3 human enough to hate. All recognise

that it is not the man Kitchener who does these things. There is no man Kitchener. There is just a brain, and that is why he is called M K," It typifies that brain, superb, magnificent—the finest brain in the British army. Those who go under, those whom he crushes, admit its infallibility. They admit that they had to go under, they had to be crushed. They may complain, but they do not hate him. '"K." is too much like Fate. What has to be has to be,' and what "K" says .has to be, tor "K" is always right. So he has gone through the Empire imposing restrictions, making loafers work, and workers work harder, and leaving behind him always that same strang3 passionless respect which is not love, not admiration, not hate, but merely unquestioning acquiescence.

There is nothing of the social lion about Kitchener. He has no social qualities. He is not even a pleasant man. He is a soldier with an ambition and admission, and he has had no time and no thought to spare beyond them. Long ago in Egypt he

laid it down that an officer should not marry. It detracted from his usefulness. To Kitchener the sole use of a man was to get work out of him.

He is a good man-master" just as he is a good horse-master. He leeds his men, sleeps his men, rests his men just as much as is necessary to enabl them to work at their top for the longest possible time. He has no sympathies, no favourites. He chooses his assistants with the greatest care. They must be men of tremendous brain power, of splendid training, tight-lipped silent men who think and do not talk. They have to be as much like himself as possible! He has surrounded himself with such men—all of them unmarried, all of them with only one single interest—that of doing the job which he sets them. In this lies no small part of his success in his ability to choose the right men and infect them with his own singleness of purpose. But even those who serve him most faithfully have no affection for him. He has friends, probably, but they are very few. It is said of him that he has not neglected to gain favour with those in authority so as to help forward his career; but at least this has to be remembered, too r that he has never been granted anything that he did not almost at once justify by brilliant success. When all is said there remains this — that he is "K.," the greatest brain, the greatest force the most remarkable man in the British Empiro today. There are other men of similar , qualities; but they are found among the pitiless industrial conqueror*, 1 those multi-millionaires of America, who have devoted themselves to the acquisition of wealth and the power that springs from it, just as "K" has devoted himself to the acquisition of f ame*and the power that springs from military supremacy. He belongs to the same class. The difference is that he has chosen a different field of endeavour.