TRIBUTES IN PARLIAMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3250, 28 June 1916, Page 23

TRIBUTES IN PARLIAMENT.

LONDON, Juno 20. In the House of Commons, the Speaker announced tho receipt of resolutions of sympathy over the death of Lord Kitchener from the Russian, French, and Greek Parliaments. Mr Asquith gave notice that he would move on Wednesday a resolution touching the death of Lord Kitchener. In the House of Lords, Lord Lansdowne, Lord French, and Lord Derby paid eloquent tributes to Lord Kitchener in the presence of a crowded House. Lord Lansdowne said that Lord Kitchener was a firm believer in voluntaryism, but abandoned it recently when it became clear that it did not suffice to supply the national needs. It would be difficult to conceive a more impressive ending to a great and noble career.^

Lord French said that Lord Kitchener never spared an effort to supply his demands. He had not always seen eye to eye with Lord Kitchner, but their divergencies had not interfered with the national interests. Lord French added : " When I had reason to believe that I would be selected for the chief command in France I went to Lord Kitchener and urged him to see Mr Asquith and try to get the post, and that I might accompany him as chief of staff, but in vain, although Lord Kitchener had no idea of becomingWar Minister."

Lord Derby stated that Lord Kitchener was said to be harsh, taciturn, and stern, but there had never been a worse estimate of his character. Lord Kitchener was shy and always diffident about himself. A few days before he started for Russia he said : " I feel that there is something more that T ought to do for the country. I feel that I am leaving much undone." He then went off like a schoolboy for a holiday. Lord Kitchener had left the whole machine in working order, and it only required a skilled engineer to keep the woik going. Britain had always paid a heavy toll to the seas, but never a heavier one than when Lord Kitchener, coffined in a British warship, passed to the great beyond. June 21. In the House of Commons, Mr Asquith moved the erection at the public expense of a memorial to Lord Kitchener, with an inscription expressing the House's admiration of his illustrious career and gratitude for his services.

Mr Asquith said that the House, before adjourning on June 1, had given Lord Kitchener a strong expression of confidence. Next day Lord Kitchener met many members of the House of Commons, including some persistent and apparently irreconcilable critics, with the result that they parted on terms of complete understanding. On his last interview with him (Mr Asquith) Lord Kitchener expressed his pleasure at the result of meeting members of the House of Commons, and said he hoped it would be the first step in increased confidence and sympathy. There was then no thought on either side that they were parting more than temporarily, but Providence in its wisdom had prepared a sudden release from the burden of care and toil. Those >-emaining, especially those who had snared his counsel in the greatest emergency of our time, bowed their heads before the Supreme Will, with whom were the issues of life and death.

Mr Asquith paid a tribute to Lord Kitchener's share in the emancipation, and later the administration, of Egypt, the foundation of the pacification of South Africa, and the reorganisation of the Indian army and of the Imperial forces since the war. He brought to his task all his energy, resourcefulness, and masterful personality. His career was cut short in its full tide. He had not exhausted his powers and possibilities. No one was less fitted than himself to analyse Lord Kitchener's faculties or appraise his service 3 to the State. He could only say that he knew few men who had less reason than Lord Kitchener to shrink from submitting their lives to God's judgment. Mr Bcnar Law seconded Mr Asquith's motion. Lord Kitchener's strength lay less, lie said, in mental processes than in sound instinct. He never doubted our ultimate victory.

Mr Wardle, in supporting the motion, said that Lord Kitchener was known as absolutely straight. Sir C 4. H. Eeid said there must be a thorough investigation of the circumstances of his death. Australia owed Lord Kitchener the boon of her sound military system. The motion was assented to.