SIR SALTER PYNE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4314, 25 March 1901, Page 5

SIR SALTER PYNE

'A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR TO -WELLINGTON. A FRIEND OF THE AMEER. A distinguished visitor, who has been travelling through the southern pari of New Zealand, passed tnrc-ugh Wellington last week—Sir Thomas Salter Ryne, K. 8., C.S.I who arrived from Lyttelton on Thursday, and left by the Taluno tor Sydney shortly after midnight on Saturday.

Sir Salter Pyno. is one, of the most famous of the strong band of Englishmen who are doing the work of the Empire in the outposts of tha Empire. And tow men have had a more romantic and adventurous existende. Now in the prime of life, just forty-one years of age, he is able to boast that he has raised himself from the workshop bench to the position of an Ambassador between the British Empire and that nation which is the buffer State between England in India and Russia in Asia. He went to Afghanistan about fifteen years ago, in the capacity of engineer. Against prodigious difficulties be introduced into the country many and various industries, including gun and cartridge factories, machine shops, soap, candle, leather and metal factories, a mint, an electric lighting plant, and other works. Not only had he to contend against the natural disadvantages of the country, but he had to face the formidable opposition of tho chiefs, whom he rapidly supplanted in the counsels of tho Ameer. On several occasions his life was threatened; he was harassed and thwarted, and belittled in his schemes. The Ameer, however, took to him from the first, showed him every confidence, and gave him a free hand in tho carrying out of his plans. Born in 1860, he commenced life as an engineer’s apprentice in the - Birmingham machinery works of Tangye and Co. Ho soon worked up to the position of manager of foundry and engineering works, and at tlie age of twenty-two went out to Calcutta for an. engineering firm. He was still in Calcutta when the Ameer paid a visit to Lord Dufferiri at Rawal Pindi. A portable engine, with a dynamo arid flash light attached, caught the Ameer’s eye, and gave him the idea of introducing machinery into Afghanistan. A Frenchman who was in charge of this machinery made his way to Cabul disguised as a dumb Afghan; but when, on looking out of his window at Cabul one morning, he saw two men hanging on the gallows, and vwo women having their throats cut, he decided that that was no place foiv him, and stood not.upon the order of his going, - but went at'once. Having been sent to Europe to buy machinery, he sent the machinery out to Afghanistan, but remained' himself : where.Re was in s-afety. This left the Ameer in a dilemma. He sent to the Indian'Government, asking for an engineer. The Government would' not 'appoint’one" officially;’.'for a sojourn at - Cabul was considered 'equivalent to an'act of suicide: However, young Pyne,. then a yAUth,.of,(twentyfive, with the spirit of adventure strong within him, took his .life iri his.' hands and set out for Gabril,. ■ escorted by a squadron of Afghan cavalry. - He reached his , destination in .safety, although three attempts had been made. to assassinate him on the way.

) The Ameer was, however, cordiality itself to the young Englishman, grasped him warmly by the blind, aria explained the Royal projects, in an interview lasting eight hours. j.-e')ad© the.engineer erect - a .Woolwich in. Cabul, and workshops for the manufacture of the country’s essentials. In a civilised country this would have been a large, order. It was “prodigious” in a country, where the Englishman was virulently hated, where the natives and their ruler had Mthertobeen proud of the most primitive appliances, where there were practically ne roads, ana all the machinery had to be transported all'the way from , England to India, and then carried on the .backs of arid elephants' through rocky gorges and 1 over steep mountain (lasses. But Mr Pyne, having taken up the- task, was determined to see it

through, whatever its magnitude.. At first he had to do everything himself, and to laboriously teach barbarians, who had not the slightest comprehension of manufacturing methods. They knew nothing of the foot-rule, and measured everything with a bit of string and an ■ odd half-finger. In three months Mr Pyne had his first buildings erected, and "sawing and planing machinery was in operation' not long after he had purchased it in Europe, whither he betook himself for that purpose. A mint was the next new establishment. Coins, had to be designed, and the dies cut, the latter a difficult task with Afghan workmen. Eventually silver and copper coins were turned out in millions, a powerful factor in reconciling the people to their ruler’s new policy. With their martial spirit, the Afghans, still suspicious of the Englishman, asked why he could not furnish them" with arms, of war. The manufacture of cartridges without skilled lahour was a Herculean task, but it was one out of the many successful labours of Sir Salter Pyne- The policy of arming the Afghans with weapons that might one day he used against us has often been adversely criticised, hut Sir Salter contends that his manufacture of arms and ammunition for our neighbours on the Indian frontier was a most powerful •factor; tin; bringin- about a more friendly feeling towards us in Afghanistan. - The -Afghans, turning the matter over in thfeir minds; came to the. conclusion that the English must be friends, or they would never allow one of their countrymen to teach another nation how to make arms for themselves. By 1894 Sir Salter was’,turning out 700 C Martini and 900 Snider cartridges a day. Ho next turned his attention and that of the Afghans to the manufacture of Martini-Henry gun-barrels, and set up a steam hammer and a forge- Muzzle and brecoh-loading field guns then ■ made their appearance. More peaceful industries followed, soop land candle factories, a' boot factory and a brandy distillery, which turned out 800 bottles a day. ‘ Next came an. enormous plant for rolling cartridge metal, most of which was hot as hitherto imported, but was,made.in the Cabul-foundries, where castings of six tons were turned out- . Shells,, gunpowder;, fuses, swords, furniture, carriages, jewellery, almost everything required for peace and war, , Sir Salter taught the Afghans to make. ■ Now there are about 3500 Afghans in 1 the shops at Cabul, and the output has i increased immensely. The men whe formerly^ - measgred - with the bit of string are - skilled mechanics. But prdud as Sir Salter Pyne is of'his mechanical achieve ments, his inculcation of habits cf steady; industry into a barbaric and indolent nation, hei has almost i reason to bo prouder still of his achievs--1 meats in diplomacy. This was in. connec--3 tion with his notable mission to Simla. - Sir Mortimer Durand, Lord Landowne’s - Foreign Secretary, had, as he thought, 1 ■ exhausted forbearance in concessions to s;the Ameer j ,who treated-them with silent a‘contempt, and insisited upon sending a o I communication" direct" to" the Viceroy, ■• thus ignoring the Foreign Office. Lord 4 Roberts’s time in India was nearly up,

desired to fritter away time until Lord Roberts, whom he feared, had left India, arid then to challenge the issue of a third Afghan war. When, therefore, 3lr Pyne heard from the Ameer’s lips his hopes and fears, and was asked to go to Simla and repeat them to the \iceroy face to face, he saw all the pathos cl the case. Here was the Ameer, with the Russians menacing his kingdom on one side, and, the Government of India threatening to send Lord Roberts with a large force tn a mission to Cabul on the ether, with (ho powerful Hazara tribes in full revolt in the midst of.his territories, and spies and intriguers oa every hand urging him to suicidal courses. Mr Pyne, convinced of the Ameer’s honesty, went to Simla, and received from Lord Lansdowne the assurance of the honest intentions of the Government. As a result the Ameer agreed to receive the mission under Siv 3lortimer Durand, and war was averted. For this service, Mr Pynd was knighted hy the British Government, and loaded with gifts by the Ameer, who made him a member of tho very exclusive Afghan Order of Fidelity.

The Ameetr, proud and haughty despot though he be, knew Sir Salter Pyne for his friend. But when he urged him to. sign an agreement to stay in, his service for the remainder of his life, and do whatever he wished, he proved that ho had net read his character aright. Sir Salter Pyne, naturally refused to do any such thing. Then the despotism of the Ameer showed itself. He was not accustomed to contradiction cf this, kind, and he resented it. About this time Sir Salter Pyne’s health began to give way. An abscess formed on the liver, involving a difficult operation. A second operation has since been performed at Cauo, and Sir Salter is on his way round the world for the benefit of his health. Ho and the Ameer have parted good Menas, however, and one would be hasty in concluding that he shall not be seen in Afghanistan again. The Afghan' monarch is a friend cf England, that is, he is as friendly to England as he can he to any nation, for ho is in a difficult position, exercising a despotic sway which moans death to any of bus subjects against whom iho slightest suspicion is directed. Afghanistan is a country of swift and suden punishment. Once when Sir Salter Pynq—then 3lr Pyne—escaped death from tho bayonet-thrust of a fanatical native by the sudden swerving' of i his horse, the sepoy was promptly put to death. But the Englishman, was shocked beyond measure when he heard that the native’s family connections, forty in all, had likewise -been summarily executed. He protested against this, but the reply of the Ameer was; ‘You know not that if I had punished only the sepoy, everyone of his relatives would have had a death-feud against you. The only way of saving you was to kill the lot. You do not understand Afghanistan.” A-book on Afghanistan from material supplied: by Sir Salter Pyne may be, ex. peeled shortly. ; It will, of course, be awaited ; with eager interest. Onr visitor, 1 it may be said, is delighted with what he had seen of New Zealand. He regretted very much that he had to cut short his stay here, but is due to join some friends in-Japan, as. soon as he possibly oan do so. From Sydney he •will 5 go to Japan, and then to China. He will afterwards visit America, and proceed! thence to London. Sir Salter Pyne, a ; modest and! unassuming gentleman, full of buoyant spirits, his Trank; clean-shaven f ace and fine eyes" beaming with good humour, as' he chatted with friends on board the Talune on. Saturday, night, certainly did. riot look like 'of man who has, passed through two serious operations;;; He' has a constitution of -iron; . and it -has stood him ‘iri good stead “iri a ’ trying time. Amongst .the many friends who went to say good-bye at the boat was Mr Seddon. The well-wishers of: Sir . Salter Pyne—and all. who admire sterling horn esty, unwearying industry, and invincible courage, is his well-wisher—will echo the hope that his illness may be only temporary, and that he lias before him many further-years of life and use. -fulness. ,-