SAILORS AND SOLDIERS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7027, 15 January 1910, Page 9

SAILORS AND SOLDIERS

(By 149.) I have a communication this week from a man who objects to what* he calls "your exhaltation of the ecppoted characteristics of the British Sailor," 'I must, of course, deal very gently with this person, because he. is. : probably'. a "Jjittle linglander," or something of the kind, lie mentions that in Nelson's time the British sailor was forced aboard the King's ships and made to fight, that his prowess has alwliys been exaggerated, and " that 'in any ' modern warfare that. "Jack," because he : 'has repeatedly been "kept under," would play "second fiddle" to the man ..of every other . up-to-date Navy. My only point in-areply to a. very weird and very unfair letter is that "Kaiser" should think it a shame to live in any British country. It is impossible that I should publish the : letter of ■ "Kaiser" : in full because, although freedom of.speech is so desirable, there are "many persons who are quite ready to believe thut the Britisn are decadents and that the time is almost ripe for them to haul down the flag. Personally,. I hope that Britain will have some use for her armaments .before very long, and 1 that the persons who believe thut Jack; Tar is not the man I believe him to be may have an opportunity of proof.

"Tiny" Knyvett, who has been dismissed from the volunteer force, has been dispensed with, not because he was not a good soldier, but because he broke a regulation.- Many a keem nian has been "'broken" by a regulation. I don't suppose the authorities oould object to "I'fij'," of the. First Queemslanders, enlisting in .the Territorials as ant ordinary everyday private or that there would be anything against him being allowed to climb ta a commission. It is remembered with a certain. Umount of satisfaction that great sailors and soldiers have sometimes bumped hard against regulations but that their services have not been lost to the Empire. > "Tiny" and I trekked together and chewed ' biscuits off the same waggon, Und saw. the, heliograph at Kimberley working at the same; moment, and 'had a picnic on the same hill on the way to, Barberton, and did practically the saine things :at Sauna's Post, and thereafter. I know: that :unregulations:"Tiny" has no right to kick against the pricks," but I also know that there are not too many keen volunteer officers in New Zealand ! to make it altogether judicious to prevent this gallant little soldier from everbearing arms again. .Knyvett always did his duty as a soldier, and although he and I sorted letters alongside one another in Pretoria, he wasn't there vo<y long when he heard there was more -iNjr in progress. Although he has broken regulations I sympathise with him and hop» he will keep on being a soldier for the Empire even though he can't!wear stars.

All sections of German artillery brigades are now fully equipped with a field telephone equipment, as a re9ult of continuous experiments at manoeuvres. The lessons of the Russo-Japan-ese war have been closely studied. and applied to a practical use:, by the < artillery department of the German General Staff. The equipment consists of four instruments and four rolls of wire, each roll measuring 600 yards, making 2400 yards in all. Detached batteries are provided with one instrument and one roll of wire from the main equipment. Every battery is connected with the brigade 6taff by telephone, and the brigade staff is linked up with the divisional headquarters by the same method.

Lieut.-General Baden-Powell is the sol-1 !dier who is responsible for the Boy Scouts throughout the Empire, and. has always during his whole soldiering career: been able to, focus -attention. He is only fifty-two years of age, is thei'eforo very young for his. present rank.. His family declare that, as a child he was .'quiet, reserved, cautious, wittjv playful, yet extremely energetic, and while doubtless this may be written down as a. somewhat prejudiced view, there can be no doubt about his energy, and those who were his companions at Charterhouse School give him credit for wit, mimicry, and dexterity with the pencil and violin. As an actor of fourteen he secured a notice in the "lira," in which his performance was described as "full of vivacity,and mischief." He ,1s said to. have been" no-:more'than a good average scholar, but he was able to enter the Army without special training on leaving Charterhouse by taking second place in a list of several hundred candidates. Gazetted in September, 1876. to the 13th Hussars, he sailed immediately for India, where he devoted himself with passionate zeal to the art of soldiering. He found in pig-sticking a sport which afforded .him a useful training in many qualities necessary to the oavalryihan. It was indeed in the jungles that he learned scouting. It is set forth that; on one occasion he was able to follow the quarry by the discovery of a clot of mud no larger than a 6hirt button, which had dropped on to a leaf from the animal's foot. "8.-P.," as he is familiarly spoken of, possesses no fewer than seven swords of honour.' One of these was sent from New Zealand, another came from Sydney, while a third was a gift from the ladies of the United States. The new knight has been described as the most versatile man in the King's army. In addition to his claims as a soldier he is a capital artist, the author of many interesting! books, an excellent musician, a first-rate actor, and an all-round sportsman.