INDIAN FRONTIER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 178, 23 April 1908, Page 7

INDIAN FRONTIER.

WILLCOCKS'S COI/TJMN. '■ BY TELEGRAPH—MiESS ASSOCIATION—COPI'IUGHT : Calcutta, April 21. ; General Willcocks is in command, of three 'thousand men in his expedition', against the Moosmandes, who number' ten'' ; thousand fighting-men. ■'. 1 . v: •'h. "> 1 THE MAN OF. THE MOMENT. . ' , Eleven years ago Alajor-General Sir James Willcocks, K.C.M.G., who lias led/the. Zakka Khel expedition with so nmc)i.sv,ccess, was an almost unknown staff officer at." Deesa; lii India, which ho has "himself described, as .a small military cantorimfint dumped' down in a' howling desert." He liad' not long, been promoted to the" rank of major, had .no "influence" whatever, and no visible'' prospcct "of rapid - advancement. Four - years -later. he was 'receiving tho freedom of - tlia City of London and a sword of honour'at>the hands of.the^ Lord Mayor, for his brilliant; relief of ;Kumasi.' Yet cveh' in those Dees'a days Sir James Willcocks; was k'nownrl to' some of his seniors in the Army as a keen aiul zealous soldier. He had seen much fighting on the Indian frontier, and wore ■ 'Afghan, Waziri, Sudan, Burma, Chin-Lushai,, and Manipur medals. He had had a varied and, adventurous career, and had never missed a single chance of getting' into the fighting ,'lme .whenever troops were on'tho ni'archi i.Erom'the 'moment..lie entered tho Army the call to arms has rarely' sounded without. "Jim'.'iiWiUcoeks' struggling to the front somehow. The bugles of war havo ever; rung in his ears as the most alluring of invitations. Throughout his stirring life ho has scented the -battle from ,afar. V Sir James Willcocks was on the West .Coast during, incst of tho South"African war,. and though he Was ordered" "to' the Capo ' towards the eud, he saw little service there. Afterwards he went back to India, and was placed in command of : the Bombay-Brigade. Life in, the enoryating climatOr of,.Bombay ,was - little to his taste.- There was -'much ''clerical' work but no soldiering, ami . lie was not cut out for an office stool:- ... - V -. ... Lord Kitchener, with .unerring.-, instinct for selecting good men which marks the'truly great soldier, had * bis eyo on him. 'Ho . appointed him to'the acting command, of-Secun-derabad, almost the largest/ divisional com'-' mand in' India. It was a big jump, ,but General Willcocks did Well there. Then' he' gained the goal, of hisr desire w-hen .he \vas appointed to the Nowsh'era -Brigade, on the frontier;. and now; lie, has - hardly taken over the Pesh'awai" command boforo he is ordered on service. He will go'further yet. All his life Sir- James^ -Willcocks lias lived with single-minded dovotion to his profession. Like Lord Roberts in his active days, his one ; preoccupation is to "keop himself, thoroughly; fit for service. • Tho only possible way to, rut-.: flo his unfailing good .temper is to look himkeenly up and down and tell him: that lie seems to bo putting on weight. l Ho has his own rules of diet, to which he rigidly adheres. One of his articles of belief is that most people eat too inuoh.. For himself, he lias: never taken breakfast for many 'years, holding that two substantial meals, a day ought to suffice.: He never takes -liquid,.in;.any form at the table. - ■!'.-■ • "I "I hold that the soldier.ought to keep himself ready for a call at any moment,"- is one of his tavourito sayings. Another is- that "the general who can't rido is doiiu for nowadays." In the Indian cold weather ho is always up and iii uniform long before. sunriso. Even in Bombay lie would usually havo ridden twenty miles before most peoples were about. Ho is the only man I have over beard of who used to icp his baths! It is his pride nover to have spent a holiday at a hill station, or even to have visited one except 1 when duty compelled him. He devotes all his available short leave to big game shooting. l When othor men fly to cool mountain tops in April niul May. Sir James Willcocks is usually fac-: ing the fierce heat of tho plains 'in search 'of-tigers." Ho thinks that soldiers should slum luxurious ease, and that tho subaltern playing croquet at a hill-lop gymkhana would -bo hotter in a junglo with a gun in his hand. ENFIELD 15 H.-P. MOTOK CAR. To discriminate is to decide. This well-known model is repleto with all thoso refinements which • road esporienco can suggest, and which critical drivers desire. Gate System of Chango Speed Gear. Metallic Multiple Diso Clutch. Simple Control. Unique Accessibility. Provisions for Easy Adjustment. A Car of tho First Class, Popularly Priced. New Zeal.-,nd Agents .—INGLIS BROS., Willis Street, Wellington. Telephone Nos. 1019, 2441,- 2714, P.O. Box G9.' Garage, Harris Street, Wellington. 3ranch Depot at Christchurcli.—Adit