THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1908. KITCHENER AND INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13745, 9 May 1908, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1908. KITCHENER AND INDIA.

Ten years ago the names of Kitchener and his men were on everyone's lips'. The- wonderful way in which he engineered the reconquest of the Soudan was the theme of general admiration. He would be at ' Khartoum on September 1, he said, when setting out on the last stage of the campaign. His punctuality in keeping similar official appointments in connection with the preliminary expeditions which rendered his crowning success possible led to an eager perusal of the cable news when the (lay specified came round. The public had not long to ' wait. On September 1 he fought the great fight of Omdurman five or six miles outside the city, and on September 2, only , one day late, he entered Khartoum. The accuracy of his forecast impressed everyone with his wonderful prevision of all possible obstacles, and the perfection of his arrangements for overcoming and removing them. It was reeog- » liised that to render it possible thus to keep his engagements with the public, he must be most ably supported, and Hunter, Macdonald, Gatacre, and the. rest, received their share of kudos for their individually brilliant performances, and proved reliability as integral parts of their commander's fighting machine. On the. strength of his Soudan reputation. Kitchener was selected by Lord Roberts as his chief of the staff, when, in the dark days of December, 899—50 dark for England and doubly dark for him—he, at. the solicitation of his country, set out to vindicate her supremacy in South Africa. People had great , hopes of Buller, but they had absolute confidence in Roberts, and when it was known that with him was to be associated Kitchener, the marvellous organiser of the Soudan expedition, there were no lingering doubts, even, of the result. What a change ensued from the moment he set foot in South Africa, how vigorously he set to work to bring order out of chaos, how speedily Lord Roberts and he turned the tide of war, relieved Kimberley, entrapped Cronjc, and rendered the relief of Ladysmith - possible, are matters fresh in everyone's mind. The march on Bloern--1 fontein, and that still more wonderful one on Pretoria, when operations covering hundreds of miles of front [ were directed with a precision that • astonished the world, and threw ' even the march on Kandahar of 1 twenty years before into the shade— six great columns being supplied, " controlled, and guided through an enemy's country, each supporting ' the other, and all kept in touch by the master-mind in the rear working through Kitchener as easily and certainly as a practised driver manages a team of horses—need no re- ? capitulation to-day. In the war - which proved the grave of many res putations. Kitchener but enhanced ® his, and when, the pressure being res lieved, Lord Roberts felt it safe to hand over the command, and, over- - riding all claims of seniority and preference, , did so to Kitchener, England was well content to have it so. In supreme command, the " Soudan general was able to give his special talents free play, and, backed up as he was by his old comrades ' of the desert expeditions, patiently v set to work to wear his brave foe J down, and ultimately out-engineered i- him and compelled him to sue for I honourable peace. Honours await- « ed the victor, in due course, but none t of them gave him more present satisfaction, we may believe, than his speedy appointment as Commander- - in-Chief in India. India was naturally dear to Lord Roberts' heart, and a perusal of his deeply interesting record of "Fortyone Years in India" shows how greatly ho felt the need of military reforms there, which he had himself .. been unable, to accomplish.. In his

quondam Chief of the Staff he had discovered the strong will, the forceful personality, the natural tendency to dominance, and the exceptional organising ability the , situation demanded, and as Commander-in-Chief of the army he used his influence, then at its height, to secure Lord Kitchener's appointment. A third time it devolved upon the great organiser to bring order out of military chaos, and he encountered official difficulties in the work which would have taken the heart out of a less determined man. The scheme he ultimately formulated for Indian army administration brought him into direct collision with the Gover-nor-General. So-• strained"-were the relations that one or the other hails to go, and the Home Government,* acting in what it felt to be the best interests of the country at that crisis., recalled the Governor-Gene- I ral, and gave Kitchener the relative-. Iv free hand "he had found essential to the carrying" out of his scheme of Indian defence. Having secured it, great changes were effected, until in a short time competent critics pronounced the Indian army the most perfect fighting machine in the world How rapidly it can be mobilised at any required poiint, the frontier wars are giving illustration. , And it is to be noted that while, in Kitchener fashion, officers who have, failed to rise to opportunities are beiilg drastically treated. Kitchener's own men are proving themselves worthy of their leader. The expedition into Tibet, 11)03-4, addeji to the laurels already won by Major Younghusband in India General Wileoeks has been so prominently brought to the front by his masterly conduct of the recent Zakka. Khels expedition, into some of the most difficult fighting country i" . the ' world, and. by the vigour of his blows, and the rapidity of his concentration against the disturbers of the peace on the Afghan frontier, that he, is not likely again to be lostsight of. As one of Kitchener's Reliables lie will be called on in some dark future hour, when men of proved capability, and such men only, are needed, and will have further opportunities given him of adding to his wreath of honours. But the success of all the frontier fighting is, humanly speaking, Kitchener's work. 'At a time when there is seething sedition in many'parts of the country, when an anarchist propaganda is spreading rapid'y, and an incipient mutinyname of evil omen in India—has only just been opportunely crushed, it is well for the Empire that the self-possessed officer whose mind is -always concentrated on the working of the machine he has built up with infinite pains and consummate skill, - is on the spot, and has recently had his tenure of office extended. In his keenness of vision, intimate knowledge of Orientals, knack of gaining information at first hand, and • springing surprises, in his perfect arrangements for getting his blow in first, and striking a succession of deadly ones rapidly, with almost mechanical precision, centre England's confident hopes at this critical time. For even the determination of the Home Government to make another attempt to avoid the extension of. the . Indian frontier so as', to include the Khyber Pass—a determination which deserves more success than it- is likely to achieve—is ' only possible because of the increased confidence given by Lord Kitchener's military reorganisation, and by the proofs afforded that it works : in practice as smoothly and as ef- ■ fectively as in theory. /( .