GREAT LEADER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 103, 3 May 1932, Page 7

GREAT LEADER.

HAMILTON VINDICATED. LONDON, April 28. "Lan Hamilton vindicated." That summarises the various reviews of the final volume of General Oglander's official history of Gallipoli. Critics pay many tributes to the history's fairness and justice. Mr. Compton MacKenzie, the author, who served at the Dardanelles, writing in the "Daily Mail," emphasises that for many years the expedition has been' regarded as a foolish and reckless project of Mr. Winston Churchill, foolishly and recklessly prosecuted by Sir lan Hamilton.

"It is good to think that both lived to see themselves vindicated in the eyes of all unprejudiced men," he writes. "Both made mistakes, but they were not those commonly attributed to them. General Oglander dismisses the idea that Hamilton set his troops an impossible task, the narrow margin by which success was missed disproving that allegation.

"Oglander says that it may be claimed that Hamilton's temperament was admirably suited to the hazardous task. Resolution, dash, enthusiasm, self-confi-dence, imagination and great personal courage were the qualities demanded from such a leader.

"Hamilton possessed them all, although some of his troubles were due to the defects of his own qualities, for his optimism and boyish spirits inclined him, when fortune smiled, to make light of obstacles.

"General Oglander sums up the drama of Gallipoli as one that, by reason of the beauty of its setting, the grandeur of its theme, and the unhappiness of its ending, will always rank among the world's classic tragedies," concludes Mr. MacKenzie.