Lord Muthuen.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 97, 18 January 1900, Page 3

Lord Muthuen.

The rumoured retirement of Lord Methven gives interest to 'some chatty paragraphs which appear in "ALA P." "Paul" Methven is a man of great personal energy and physical strength. In his younger days he acquired some fame for his skill with the gloves, and it is recorded that on one occasion he put his knowledge to gaol use in the defence of a lady against an extorfcionatejjabman. The man was very | impudent, and said, looking down ' fro n his perch : " You wouldn't be so free if I was down ihere on the pavement," " Come down," said Mefchuen, "and we'll soon settle that." The eabrnman accepted the challenge, and at the end of the fourth round apologised for his rudeness to the lady. The story would not be complete if Methven had not compensated him in some measure for nis " licking." In one -of his earliest campaigns in Egypt, he acted as commandant of Lord Wolseley's head-quarters, and it fell to his lot to manage the catering for his chief and^ comrades, whose creature comforts depended largely on his skill and activity in foraging. The weathar was intensely hot, and all cpoling drinks were at a -premium, so that Methven was fcaturally very proud when one day

at Ismailia, the base of the army upon th© Red Sea, he discovered sk parcel of effervesoing powders. Ha scoured it, and carried it off for the satisfaction of the headquarters staff. Y\ r hen Methuen's discovery wt><» broached under the blazing hoai, of the desert sun, the result} was not altogether successful, iot the powders were medicinal ones, bearing 111 1 the name of a German. Paul. Methven is a guardsman of tha moat modern type, plaoing soldiering first and everything else last. When he was in command at Horn** a riadlo xised to be propounded concerning him , " Why are hop Majesty's Guards like the early Christians ? " Th« answer was t " Because Paul perseeuteth them." If he did not persecute the Guards at least ho did not spare them, and he insisted always on living in thi same way and on the same ration, as his troops. He has the reputa*tion of being hard to please in professional matters, refusing to spaed the men under him so long as they do not carry out a manoeuvre to his entire satisfaction.