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Otago Witness, Issue 2913, 12 January 1910, Page 53

ling ship tore in terror to the safety of the outer deeps. And all day long, at intervals of ten minutes, and then five minutes, the deep boom of the gun from the lightship at Daunts' Rock, ten miles away, would echo along the shore, until one felt that men 'and their toy ships Jwere everywhere besieged by peril, and were calling to each other by gun and bell, and siren and horn to beware. How powerless man is, and yet how great! 'How tremendous are the forces Nature •brings to bear on his destruction, and yet how skilfully he conquers or evades them! Once in this deep fog, a great steamer did actually grind her heel against a sunken rock near shore. There was a moment's panic, but she instantly sheered off, and passed safely out to sea. *And all the time the lighthouse was flashing its Ineffectual light into the very bosom of the mist, and the great lever of the fog bell was being lifted by its powerful machinery up and down every minute to strike the mighty bell, whose tones sank in silence, absorbed in the night fog, and scarcely struck the white walls of the enclosure that ran down to the deep. Portia's reflection on the power of a tiny candle was reversed. The powers of darkness aro greater than the ipowers of light after all."

It was Emerson who wrote,. “Heroism feels and never reasons, and, therefore, is always right.” And the brightest feature of the Waikare disaster is the latent heroism brought to light, especially on the part of the engineers. Despite the fact that the vessel was in danger of going to the bottom, the engineers gallantly stuck to their pests until the nose of the vessel touched shore. And their feelings may better be imagined than described as with the realisation that their lives were in their hands they kept the engines going until more than waist deep in water. Particularly dangerous was the task allotted to the third engineer to stand by the valves, ready to release them in case of threatened explosion, for if called upon to perform so difficult a duty, there would have been little chance of his escaping with his life. Where all exhibited such gallantry, it would be invidious to particularise, but it is inspiring to reflect that the steamers of the Union Steam Shipping Company are manned by men with so high a sense of what duty demands, and : ady. at duty’s call to risk everything for the safety of ship and passengers. One outstanding fact is that while quick to salvage the property of the passengers, the crew for the most part lost all their belongings. It is to be hoped that they will be duly recompensed for their self-sacrifice.. The wreck of the Waikare has brought up the question of the urgent necessity of charting the rocks around the New Zealand coast, and Mr Millar is reported to have demurred at (the cost of such an undertaking. The objection does not appear a very cogent one, in view of the immense danger to life and property which the presence of sunken and uncharted rocks always presents. The lass, for instance, of the /Waikare represents a large sum of money, Jsnd it might have entailed- a terrible loss of life but for the prompt and effective manner in which, 'the passengers were .•landed and the vessel beached. It is to ibe hoped, therefore, that the Government, either with the co-operation of the Ad- , miralty, or single-handed, may see their ;way to make the necessary survey, in order that an undoubted menace to all ./those who, whether for pleasure, or in jtbe way of business or duty, go down v to the sea in ships may be removed as a deadly danger ever at work under their (feet.

liio Heroism of the Disaster.

iThe coming of Lord Kitchener is awaited with much more than usual

.The Coming of Xord Kitchener,

interest, not only in miiitary circles, but by the

/ average man; for in addition to the fact that his visit is likely %o give just that fillip to the compulsory -v*tlraindng scheme needed to ensure its success and popularity, Lord Kitchener is jone of the most striking personalities of (the century. His visit to Australia has fbeen a continuation of triumphs, and (he has even won the golden opinions of jfche ladies to such an extent as to excite _; /wonder regarding the reason of his per- ' isistent bachelorhood. Though written 'many years ago, it is interesting to recall

.the vivid pen portrait of Lord Kitchener, <lrawn by that brilliant war correspondent G. W. Steevens in " With Kitchener to

Khartoum":—"He stands several inches over six feet, straight as a lance, and {looks out Imperiously above most men's fieads: his motions are deliberate arid strong ; -Sender but firmly knit, he seems built for tireless steel wire endurance rather than for power or agility; this ialso is irrelevant. Steady, passionless eyes, shaded by decisive brows; brick Sjed, rather full, cheeks; a long mousJvjvche, beneath which you divine an immovable mouth; his face is harsh, and Neither appeals for affection nor stirs dislike. All this is irrevelant, too ; neither age nor figure nor face nor any accident jjf person has any bearing on, the essential JSirdar. You could imagine the character fjvtft the same if all the 'externals were

different. He has no age- but the prime ~pi life, no body but one to carry his snand, no- face but one to keep his brain (behind. The brain and the will are the essence and the whole of the ibrain and a will so perfect in their working! tha!..in. the face of extremest difficulty, they never seem to know what •r£r;T!;Y:l. ■ is. IYoui ■'cannot imalgin tejr-i-a;' otherwise than seeing- the T; fJiiug to i!o and doing it. His precision : d_S Ho .Inhumanly unerring, he is more than <a man. Beginning life sts .the Royal Engineers, Ije early turned y f/>'.:-]K- ?rudy of" the Levant. He was one of,. (Beaoonsfield's military Vice-Cqnsuls at ipia Minor. He was subsequently, direc-

tor of the Palestine Exploration Fund. At the beginning of the Sudan troubles he appeared. He was one of the original twenty-five officers who set to work on the new Egyptian army, and in Egypt and the Sudan he has been ever since—on the staff generally, in the field constantly, alone with natives often, mastering the problem of the Sudan always. The ripe harvest of fifteen years is that he knows everything that is to be learned of his subject. He has seen and profited by the errors of others a? by their successes. He has inherited the wisdom and the achievements of his predecessors. He came at the right hour, and he was the right man." This was written eleven years" ago, when Lord Kitchener was 48. He is now 59. As a result of his successful operations in Egypt, he was raised to the peerage as Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, and received a grant of £30,000 from Parliament. Shortly after the outbreak of war in South Africa, he became Chief of Staff to Lord Roberts, and was, on Roberts's return, to England, promoted to Commander of the Forces in South Africa.. For bringing that long campaign, to a close he received the thanks of Parliament, a viscounty, and a further grant of £50,000. In 1902 he was appointed Commander in Chief of India, but his disagreement with Lord Curzon as to the militai'y control in India led to the Viceroy's resignation, in, 1905. Lord Kitc"..':.ner has just completed, his scheme for Indian Army reorganisation, and is now touring the world for military inspection purposes.