The Japanese Soldier.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 125, 7 November 1901, Page 1

The Japanese Soldier.

The J-jparese soldiers need nothing to make Uit-m tne equal of any army of the . wet. They are faithful, hrave and confident, impressed with a fearless courage which is almost I inaticistn, of remarkable euiimatice, possessing a capacity for organisation, stability, and a tenacity of purpose which ha? prompted them to devote auch time and thought to their ~ requirements that they have become, in. a single step as it were, the equal of any troops which oan ba put against them for the purpose of comparison. They may lack the numbers of Gem.any, the infinite expansion of Ra-aia, but the care with whichthejhaveperfectedtbeirstrengthha* created out of the, hereditary qualities of the nation an army which cares nothing for obstacles, which is patient, cour* ageous and self reliant, and which .need* but the devotion of the men to the cauw for which they are fighting to victorious. Their imp from feudalism to modernity is without parallel, and it baa i.eeu accomplished with such success that it in imposa.be not to welcome their appearance um.>ng the Powers, or to ignore ibcii force? amoug the armies ©f ihe woild The mechanical preoi ion of .heir march \<&»i reveaU tie quickneM with wuich they have assimilated the teachings of ti.eir instructors. In review order they h»ve c pied to some extent the goose step of the Germans, removing from it, bowtver, something of it» exaggeration, while differing a© far from it that i hey make a biief pause on the right foot, making ihe distinctive step only with the left. Their appearance upon par* ie evokes tbe keenest aaraira. tion, while there is no one who does no* give credit to their innate fighting qualities.