THE FORTIFICATION COMMISSION— SIR WILLIAM JERVOIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4827, 7 May 1877, Page 2

THE FORTIFICATION COMMISSION— SIR WILLIAM JERVOIS.

We quote from "Men of the Times" the following notice of Sir William Jervois, who has been sent out by the Imperial Government with Colonel Scratchley to devise the be3t means of defence for the different harbours o£ the Australasian colonies :—" Jervois, Lieut- Col. William Francis Drummond, C.8., eldest son of the late General Jervois, Colonel of . the 76tli Regiment, was born in IS2I, and having passed at Woolwich, entered the Royal Engineers in 1-339. Having completed the usual cotirso of study at Chatham, he was ordered to the Cape of Good Hope in IS4I, and was actively employed in that colony upwards of seven years in various capacities. In 1842 he acted .10 brigade major in an expedition against the Boors, and during the three following years was professionally engaged at various frontier stations, making roads, building bridges, and establishing military posts. In 1545, having been appointed Acting Adjutant to the Royal Engineers, he accompanied the Chief Engineer over the whole frontier of the Cape Colony and the settlement of Natal, and in the early part of 18-16 he was major of brigade to the garrisou of Cape Town, until the arrival of Sir 11. Pottinger as governor, and Sir G. Berkeley as commander-in-chief, with whim he proceeded te the frontier against the Kaifirs. During the Kaffir war he made a military survey and map of Kaffraria, a work of great difficult}' ably executed. From IS4S till 155"2 he commanded a company of Sappers at Woolwich and Chatham; in the latter year was ordered to the Island of Aklerney, for the purpose of desiguing plans for the fortifications, and the superintendence of their execution, aud in 1554 was promoted to the rauk of major. 11l IS-j-j Major Jervoi3 was transferred to the London district, as commanding Royal Engineer, and was nominated by Lord Panmure a member of a Committee on Barrack Accommodation, whose labours contributed much to the improvements which have of late years taken place in the construction of barracks, as well as in the sanitary condition ot our troops. In 1856 he was appointed to the post of Assistant Inspector-General of Fortifications, under Sir John Burgoyne, and on the appointment of a Royal Commission to report upon the defences of the country, he was selected by the Government to ba secretary. He was a member of the Special Committee on the Application of Iron to Ships and Fortifications. In IS6I he attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, in 1562 was appointed Deputy Director of Fortifications under Sir John Burgoyne, and in 1563 was nominated a Companion of the Bath, aud was sent on a Special Commission to report on the Defence of Canada, Nova Scotia, aDd New Brunswick, ou which occasion he visited the fortifications at the principal ports on the sea board of the United States. In 1564 he was again sent on a special mission to Canada to confer with the Canadian Government on the question of the defence of that province, (.in his return to England his report was laid before Parliament, and the Imperial Government undertook to carry out the defences of Quebec on the plan recommended by him. In addition to his post at the War Oflice, Colonel Jervois is Secretary to the Permanent Defence Committee, uuder the presidency of the Duke of Cambridge."