LORD KITCHENER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9689, 13 January 1910, Page 5

LORD KITCHENER.

VISIT TO MELBOURNE.

DINNER AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE.

United Press Association—By Electric Telegra Copyright. Received January 12, 9.30 a.m. MELBOURNE, January 12. The Federal Ministry entertained Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener at a dinner in Parliament House. Lord ohelmsford, Acting Governor-General of Australia, presided over a distinguished gathering. The Hon. A. Deakin, Prime Minister, proposed- the health of the guest. In the course of his remarks he said: "I am convinced that before Lord Kitchener has left he will have summed up the elements of the defence problem in such a fashion that we may at least feel that our foot has found the right and straight path. Under his guidance we hope to essay that organisation of the land forces which will couple their development with those of the naval strength." Lord Kitchener, in his reply, reiterated that he nad been much struck with the very strong and widespread determination existing in Australia for an efficient citizsn force. The want of population was a difficulty to be carefully considered, but Australia possessed first rate material on which to work. In no other country in the world did the young men show such natural qualifications upon which to build a military career. A great deal of the training that in the ordinary course was necessary to obtain an efficient soldier was already part of their daily life. The Field-Marshal advised that the excellent natural characteristics of young Australia should be carefully preserved, and went on to urge the importance of establishing a high class primary military educational system for the training of officers. There was no reason, he declared, why the national forces of! Australia should not make their standard of efficiency on a par with, if not higher than, those of the military Powers of Europe and elsewhere, but they could not, expect immediate results if they aimed at a high ideal. Time was necessary for the new methods to take ! effect. During the transition period | they would have to devise means to j gradually secure an improved organisation without interfering with its development. After uttering a warning against indulging in unnecessary expense, Lord Kitchener declared that if the work were thoroughly done he did not think a national army organised on sound lines need bring undue strain on the financial resources of the country.

ANOTHER DEFENCE SCHEME.

SIR GEORGE REID FORESTALLED. Received January 12, 10.5 a.m. MELBOURNE, January 12. At the dinner to Lord Kitchener, Sir George Reid roused much merriment by announcing that he had intended to provose a scheme of national defence, but Lord Kitchener had intercepted him at every point.

The Brisbane correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald" supplies that journal with some interesting personal particulars of Lord Kitchener, wh(3 arrived there on New Year's Day. He says: Lord Kitchener is not the slight, wiry lean soldier that photographs taken at the time of Orrdurman make him out to be, His cheeks are much fuller than in thosa days, arid his chin rounder. He is a very big man, with a figure so well proportioned that one forgets the great height which used to be so noticeable when he was younger. His waist is slender. His uniform, which fits perfectly, shows it off well. Lord Kitchener is ver v v careful about his dress. His shoulders are square, bis eyebrows are square but there is nothing quite so square about him as his jaw. Probably the impression which Australians will receive of Lord Kit :ben- j tr will be that the firm, stern side of his character has been very much overemphasised. Perhaps it has been. He can oertalnly be most genial in his ordinary intercourse. One was almost inclined to think that there rtiust have been some mistake in the common accounts of Lord Kitcherfcl\ That genial man, with that Very | pleasant smile, hardly squared with j one's recollection of them. Lord Kithener has a thorouh dislike of public speakitigv Australians will hear very little from him during his visit. It is not that he cannot speak, for in India when the occasion has come for explaining the policy which he carried through there with a thorouhgness which wili be his monument, he showed that he could explain it with an extraordinary lucidity. Where he has the work of his hands for a subject he can make a powerful speech. But he is not a master of sweet nothings. People in Brisbane have uoc been awy the less favourably impressed with Lord Kitchener for the fact that •once or twice in the course of his public reception he appeared to be almost nervous. At the civic welcome given to him in the City Council Chambers immediately after his arrival in Brisbane, there was nearly a quarter of an hour's wait whilst glasses and drinks were being handed round before the Mayor (Alderman T. Wilson) proposed Lord Kitchener's health. During this time the Mayor, with Lord Kitchener on one side, and Mr Joseph Cook on the other, were sitting something, like three judges on € the bench facing the assembly. The Mayor appeared to be nervous. Lord Kitchener appeared lo be nerovus. The men hand-

ing round eatables, and the men receiving them, appeared to be nervous. Finally, the Mayor, who has labour leanings, rose and welcomed his guest. Lord Kitchener can certainly relax, and he is most charming whence does so, and he has made a fine impression upon Brisbane. But at the same time, in a certain favourite attitude of Lord Kitchener's—legs apart, hands clasped behind the back —in the positive decision with which he does every action, in the firm, big voice which he had sometimes to use in the gale which was blowing, and especially it. the grim repose which settled over his features for a few moments when the strain of the conversation tired him, one could see quite clearly the man with whom those persons have to deal who meet Lord Kitchener at his work. Lord Kitchener's eyes are not steel-gray, but of that light blue which can be colder. His completion is florid and weather beaten, his features almost rugged after years of exposure to the sun and the winds and the work of a life of tremendous accomplishments,