Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1916. BRAVO CANADA!

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13899, 24 January 1916, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1916. BRAVO CANADA!

Tribute is paid m to-day's, cable news to the action of Canada m rallying . to tho : assistance of the Motherland not only with men and munitions, but with money. The last Canadian internal loan was largely over-subscribed, and the Government, instead of returning depositors tlie several millions surplus subscriptions, placed them to the credit of the Imperial Government for, war purposes. It Was a, fine, generous, and distinctly patriotic act, and we quite agree with .those of our New Zealand' contemporaries who are saying that it seW^n example for. this country to -do something really worth while Avith the six and a half millions whicli recent banking returns showed wo liad lying idle as a result- of last year's balance of trade being so well m our' favor. Canada, however, has a habit of doing filings big and large, for which probably tlie wide extent of, her territory aiid the rapid development of the young nation havo been responsible. Wa, have been Inuch struck with the splendid • military organisation which' Canada set under weigh .. immediately t^hc -war started.' The Dominion was fortunate •m possessing as Minister for Defence a man of the calibre of General Sir Samuel Hughes, to give him his full title,. thougliA'Sani Hughes" is the name ho is known. . by from Halifax to Esquimalt, and the uso of the diminutive is intended by all men to.be a real compliment. A few years ago, Avrites Mr F. A. McKeiizic, tho well-known war correspondent, Colonel Hughes, a, Canadian Militia officer who had seen good service m the Boer War, a politician, a university lecturer, an. editor, and a one time noted amateur athlete, was chosen Minister of Militia tut the Borden Government. Colonel .Hughes was a. man with a hobby ; his' particular hobby being the duty of the Dominions to lender military assistance to the Motherland m lime of war. He had travelled the other parts of the Empire advocating this. Big, .blustering,, indifferent to critics, not over-particular about the way things are done so long as I hey aro done, he saw that- his moment of opportunity, hud come. He knew the coming of a great European war could only be a- question of lime. II was resolved that when it came the Canadians should lake their proper shave m it. liud he put his plan into words East and West would have regarded him as "cracked-brain." He did not talk— he worked. He looked to see a. Canadian army leading m the threat push across the Rhine and himself" ih - commai-d. Incidentally ho looks for this still.. He. had oho instrument ready to hand — the Militia. The Canadian Militia is very like the old British Volunteers. They were regiments with .great traditions and real espirit de corps. 'But.no one took. the Militia; seriously.' .Canada regarded them as a glorified body of amatem*s, who .held celebra-. tjohs, enjoyed picnics under the name^of camp training, and were a hai-ipless, cx J pensive, and somewhat unnecessary branch of tho Dominion organisation. People did not roaliso m those days—three nr f mn__v____iv; ago — the military

1885; men from tho Canadian Conting-,, '.,. ent m the Boer War, where Canadians'""^ won three V.C.'s; the Strathcona Horse, and the North-West Mounted Politic. Here was Colonel Hughes' material. Rumors were _Jicard from time to.t(mp, of fresh activities, of " Militia bfficera. going over to Aldershot for training, of .Militia Staff courses, and lastly!, 61 a great Staff rido by • Militia oflTicers m France. Colonel Hughes picked out a nuiubor of his v best -commanding officers m the autumn of :1913, took them, across to Europe, liired a fleet- of motor cars,, and conducted them through ihe fighting ground of a year hence, fi-om Calais to Artois, and from Artois through' Belfort. Wan -■ vat* coming. That Jho regarded ais certain. Why not, 'then, lot his officers know something of the ground over which they, would have to fight? When news of .this extraordinary trip became public a cry of indignation went up, "Sam Hughes' Joy; "."Ride" aroused tho indignation of every little peddling . politician. . Apparently Sam did not mind. The thing'waa done. His officers had ':. learned' what ho "wanted. The politicians could now worry oii. -So it was that although Canada has no national training like .Australia Sr New Zealand, the nation was by no means unprepared when war came as it .might have been or as the world at largo bclived. Here was. the --skeleton of » great machine. When on the memorable days m August-, 1914, the- men m every * city and township demanded to^be allowed to serve their 'Kj'iig the offices were open for them. A. i great, army was formed in',a-jhurpy. Lots of . > mistakes were made. ._yhat wasjineyitf able. But m & few. weeks thirty thousand) men, partly trained, armed, •equipped with their ; own: 'artillery* a **d machine guns, with their fleet~qf piotorwaggons, their doctors aitdv nurses-,' with every thing their own.' down to "tlie bootlaces and bondages, set out .from, the St. Lawrence to^England.V-.And the famous First Contingent has beeii followed . » y another, and still another, while more are to come. Tlie non-commissioned officer problem was comparatively, oasy. Tlie.c were many meri v ff|-om Atii§' Boer War, "and largo numbers ef old-Br itish Army "non-coms" who had settled .m Canada, volunteeved their .aid. As for officers, they were largely businessmen — lawyers, engineers, . banlc managers, and the like. ' 'Look-' for djfficers among those who are able to handle men w^ll m their own, business," was the not*.. "They Avill be able to handle men -.veil on the field." v Arid so armies wero formed, .consisting of thick-limbed gianL* who have come down from the Yukon, trappers and others from the vast spacc.**of the north; French Canadians, speaking with musical accent, men whose forefathers fought with Wolfe and who led the rebels m- the early struggles against British rule; lumberjacks from the Soo, pioneer farmers from the NorthWest, many young American- who crossed tho border . and concealed their nationality to get a. chance of fightii-.t; for the Old Land ; S-»tc^/Canadiaj|is-"|nd young Englishmen who had emigrated, to Canada,' m oiie regiment, the 'Princess-' Patricia's, over one-thiM- of Ilio nim being old soldiers < wlip" Iwd'LJjeccivcd medals and decor-j-.tibiis for active n**-i*-vice m the British^ Ai;niy ; and a yei ,*■ large sprinkling of young Canadians, f '^o n high schools, universities and bank*.*. There is a popular idea, writes' Mr McKenzie, that the Canadian officers exitcise little discipline over 'Uieir' men. Every soldier caii tell some^tale illm*trating this. "Boys," one mythical commander is reported to have announced to liis regirpent, "the .-jener^l- is coming to inspect us to-day. ,Do your, best, and don't call me Bill until- lie's gone." That anecdote is caricature, but it is true that the Canadian officer has often mttcli ' more intimate social relations with his men than is the custom ,m thp pMcr regular armies. He' is apt to leave tradition behind and get things dono m Uio most direct way. But if he is sometimes careless of tradition lie is, keen on,knowledge. As soon as ""var wa£ declared the great universities of Canada opened, training classes for officers. On Shomcliffe, there are schools of majiy kinds at which officers go through course after cpursc. Tliey have no delusion about any man being able to fight. They know that war as fought to-day is a learned profession, and they "grind" at every stage of it. . The end of good soldiering is to beat the enemy. Nothing else really matters. That is what the Canadians have done and what they aro going .to do still moro m the immediate future. Canada's help did not consist oidy m seeing men — magnificent men such as those who savedJi Uio day. at .Vyi'es. She-' sot. to. work busily to ' iriannf acture munition-, and aiririy supplies. ' ' Eftrly m December Canada had already'ihanufactured three million shells., lior output had been raised to 1,100,000, and orders were ; on hand for 22,000,000, tho labor employed, being approximately from 80,000 to 90,000 Wn* Not content with this splendid effort, she is now giviug 'freely of her accumulating wealth and thus substantially helping Old Britain to meet the financial strain or'the Svar. Bravo Canada ! •' . ; .