LORD KITCHENER'S HOLIDAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 67, 19 March 1910, Page 5

LORD KITCHENER'S HOLIDAY.

MOTOR TOUR THROUGH THE NORTH ISLAND. INCIDENTS BY THE WAY. . A DELIGHTFUL FORTNIGHT. The last fortnight spent by Lord Kitchener in New Zealand was not the least pleasant of his tour in the Dominion, j After his strenuous trip through. Aus-j tralia and New Zealand, he had beenj looking forward to "a really good loaf, , ' j motoring through the North Island with i his sister and brother-in-law (Mr and! Mrs H. E. Parker, of Kurow, North' Otago), and the realisation thoroughly! came up to his expectations. He has i a cordial dislike of .publicity, and so his \ itinerary was known only to those comprising the party. As an instance of his organisation, it j may be mentioned that Lord Kitchener,' before he started, had the whole trip off . by heart, although the names of the places, particularly the Maori names, were quite unfamiliar to him. Even in a small trip like this, not the smallest' arrangement escaped his eagle eye. He '■ leaves nothing to chance, and to this ch-aracteristic is probably due his success in the bigger affairs of life. After a surfeit of civic receptions and similar unavoidable concomitants of his' visit, the Field-Marshal travelled as near-1 ly incognito as possible, and in several! of the places visited he had arrived and j departed before the bigwigs of the place could perpetrate anything in the.nature of a reception. At Ngaruawahia, however, the Maoris sprang a surprise on the distinguished tourist. Some hundreds of j them, with a big Union Jack stretched i in front, lined up on the road, and gave I a spirited haka. After Lord Kitchener j had thanked his dusky entertainers and ! was just about to start again, an old dame rushed up and insisted on a meeting. She "Tenakoed" the hero of Khartoum with a vivacity that must have I reminded him of some of his interviews with those interesting folk the Soudan i Dervishes, and he smilingly "Tenakoed" in return. In order that the party might have to keep to the usual stopping-places as I little as possible, they always took lunch in a hamper from the last hostelry, and I camped at mid-day in some shady spot, I I near a stream for preference. They j I say Lord Kitchener never smiles, but, I J like a lot of other queer details about' great men, this is one in which there j , is no foundation in fact. Like all great men, he knows when to smile and when to be serious. Though naturally taciturn, and not given to loquacity, no one I could have been pleasanter than Lord Kitchener was. Philosophical to a degree, nothing put him out, and. the little things that go wrong on the best-regu-lated journeys gave him not the slightest concern. In the Manawatu there was some bridge-building to do, and here the Royal Engineer in the great soldier came to the I front, and ' he appeared to quite enjoy the little incident. He took the keenest interest in the live stock in the country, and Cambridgeites will be proud to know that when he passed through their delightful district hij remarked: "Ah, I would like to have about five hundred acre,- of that land!" So his lordship knows something about land as well as of men. After this .the good people who live by the banks of the Waikato wont be offended if they know that when he was leaving Hamilton one of {his obiter dicta was, "I believe there is a show or something at Cambridge, can't we escape it?" You see he had been "fed up" (as they say in the army) with this sort of thuv ever since he landed in Australia, and tjiie marvel is how his patience held out as. long as it did. 'J. he whole trip was done in the splendid 38-horsc power ...Daimler, supplied .by Mr. George lienning. Auckland lo Hamilton was the ran for the first day, and 'between Xgaruawahja and the stopping place was one of the best runs of the tour. Next morning ■between Hamilton and Cambridge, wnen the car was bowling along at about thirty-live miles an hour, Lord Kitchener said, "Thin 13 •the only bit of road -we have had since we" left Auckland. Let her out." She was let out, and it is to be feared tho figures on the speedometer would not tally with the provisions in the local bylaws .if they have such things in those parts. Lord Kitchener thoroughly enjoyed the spurt. •From Cambridge tho party went through Tirau, where they ran into a lot of rain, and had to put (big chains on the driving wheels to get through tho .Maniubu bush, the roads on the range •being very wet and slippery. They stopped for luncheon this day at a pretty I spot in the' glorious ,bush, and Lord Kitchener was very much struck with the tuis who serenaded the •picknickers as they enjoyed their al fresco repast. One never heard of the great soldier being musical, but ihe most successfully imitated the liquid notes of these 'beautiful 'birds, and had many of them answering ■his call. At the 'bottom of Ngon£otaha hill a stop was made at the Fairy Spring, and the travellers watched the trout swimming aibout the pool for quite a long time Rotorua was a great source of pleasure to Lord Kitchener and his re* lations. Several eide trips were undertaken, among them being the Rotoma and other lakes, the Woiroa round trip, .Waiotapu, and of course Wihakarewarewa, where the Warroa Geyser when soaped by Lord Kitchener's sister gave a fine display. Two days were spent at Lake Tia-upo, Wairakd, and the Spa, and a run along the Tokaanu-TOad. Saturday, March 12, was spent in ??oing from Taupo to Napier, and on this run the car was accompanied by Sir Joseph Ward's party in another motor. In addition there were also several Napier oars on the road. The journey was not devoid of incidents. Near Tararwera. the 'Premier passed Lord Kitchener's car, and the occupants waved an adieu as they sailed along, but the parting was very ftirief. At the next high hill (and some of them are high in this part of the country), the. Premier was in difficulties, and though the offer of "a tow" was refused, the keen eye of the Reid 'Marshal spied trouble, and eventually, as Sir Joseph's machine could not negotiate the grade. Lord Kitchener's bier Daimler ■pulled them out of the difficulty. All went well till both cars got stuck in the mud at Titiokura, and horses had to bs requisitioned to get ■them out. ■Lord Kitchener's caT arrived at Napier about three-quarters of an hour before the r rest of the travellers. When ' they got into Hawke's Bay he was much impressed with the change, in the character of the roads. .For motoring, the Auckland' roads are. quite; impossible, with the .exception of. Mime jmsj short stretches,

and the contrast with"'the"fine highways in.. the next province was very marked, Sunday was spent at Napier, and next day tEe party made ■* short run -to Dannevi»ke. where they stopped for the night. After leaving Dannevirke nest morning they encountered a perfect plague of sheep. Lord Kitchener had plenty of opportunities of studying one of our principal sources of wealth before he reached Wellington, and. on more than one occasion he led a charge of one to open a way for the car in- their close ranks. It is bad enough to meet a flock of sheep, but to overtake, not only' one, but several, on a warm, dusty day is enough to try the patience of very goodnatured people, but nothing seems to be able to ruffle Lord Kitchener's calm. Something like two and a-half hours was lost through the sheep, and in a 38-horse power Daimler, with Mr. George Henning at the wheel, this represents a good stretch of country. In the Manawatu Gorge two of the bridges were down as a result of the bad weather, and these had to be put in order before the " car could pass over. Lord Kitchener served in the Royal Engineers, and ho was soon supervising the temporary laying of stringers and planks to take the weight of the heavy ear. Some of the workmen evidently did not know the tall, distinguished tourist who was giving directions, but they were quick to recognise that he understood his work, and theirs too, and under Ms supervision the bridges were soon in a condition to carry the car. This little incident was nearly the cause cf a serious accident, if not worse, to the hero of a hundred fights. Standing on one of the stringers, he was giving orders about another part of the work, when he stepped or slipped in some manner, and if he had not been an athletic and active man he would possibly have met his doom in this far-away corner oi the Empire. The party passed through Palmerston North, Foxton, Waikanae, and from the last-mentioned place to Wellington, the distanvs was done in about two hours and a-quarter. The trip was gauged to a nicety, and the Field-Marshal just timed it so that he would have time to lunch with the Premier, and then go straight on board the steamer Mokoia for the Eastern Pacific, en route for England. Before leaving New Zealand, he expressed his pleasure at the trip, which he had obviously thoroughly enjoyed. The Daimler car in which he did the trip was fitted with one of the new slide valve engines, which are absolutely silent. Although he does not himself drive, Lord Kitchener is much interested in motor engines, and had the Daimler explained < to him from back to front. During the tour the car covered 600 or 700 miles •without a hitch, and Lord Kitchener was so pleased that he said he intended to look one up when he „ got back to England. Mr. George Henning drove Lord Kitchener between Auckland and Eotarua, and again picked him up at Dannevirke. The rest of the journey one of Mr. Henning's staff acted as chaffeur.