LECTURE ON THE WAR.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5558, 8 April 1905, Page 5

LECTURE ON THE WAR.

The present war in the East' has practically sounded the death knell of the newspaper correspondent as an active participant or eye-witness of hostilities. The restrictions are now more rigorous tnan. they ever , were before, and the number of correspondents who actually get to the front is very limited indeed. It was thought that the censorship was severe in the South African campaign, but it remained for the progressive Jap. to bar the enterprising news-gatherer altogether. Thus dozens of correspondents cooled their heels at Tokio, whilst inland the finest "copy” in the world was being missed. - There is nothing of the horror of war, nor much of- its romance either, in Captain Scott-Harden’s lecture, given in the Town Hall last night, under the presidency of the Eight Hon the Premier, before a very large audience, which included many school children and cadets. The lecture dealt mainly with scenes and incidents -which the correspondents were permitted to witness, and which oould disclose no secrets of the attacking or defending armies. . These were illustrated by a series of views, some already made familiar through having appeared in the illustrated papers, and they were made all the more interesting by reason of the subject matter, which was narrated in chatty style. The story of the war up to the time the lecturer left the East, including references to the battle of Liaogang, the storming of the heights of Nanshan. and the battle of Shaho, was told in graphic words, and, when allusions to heroic deeds of valour on the part of the courageous Japs were made, the audience unmistakably showed in which direction its sympathies lay. Views of Port Arthur, its fortifications and entrenchments, were not the least interesting of a complete series that greatly aided those present to follow the lecturer closely in his narrative. At the conclusion of the lecture, which lasted nearly two hours and a quarter without interval. Miss Maude Smith recited "Banzai Nippon” (a poem by J. Liddell Kelly) and another piece. She possesses considerable dramatic gifts, which were used with a fine sense of the requirements of the author’s theme. Unfortunately the hall is much too large for her voice to be heard distinctly throughout, and those in the circle had to bo content "with merely seeing the young lady’s gestures. In a smaller hall she would be heard to better advantage, and many will be pleased to hear so promising an artist under more favourable circumstances,