LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16914, 1 April 1929, Page 11

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

SW NOT OP APGHANTSTAN tiONPON. Pek ?, "Ahwraitsnmn Shaw," who has just returned to Rngland, disguises the identity of Colore) V, P liawrenee, et Arabia, the m.-vr, about whom legends have ijrown as autumnal leaves, So man has Kvn more a victim of his Mrn achievements tbaw thlK elasiee figure of the \enr Past, He csv-apod b\>m fame and joinot! the army as a private. His reputation followed him, t\vir.g eyes sought him out. Curious minds wrote myths aKnu him. Uaw--ivoce himself biwke one of bis roles of life He asked an influential friend to transfer him to the IVyal Air Force, where he had a chance oi goitiig to distant parts, learning new languages, picking up sonm of the ethics of another civilisatiott and at the same time avoiding the attention* of the newspapers. He soon found himself tuwmg np acctpkmes in the Ptinjanb. His very presence there was quite swf Kciettt to set all the huxVhodies of Tnditi, and half those oi Pmvpe, talkf«(» about the dice and nefarious schemes which his brain was working out for the subversion of this or the frustration oi that. And when the AlWtans rose in revolt against the peeetr.'it;ite actions of their Amaunllali Khan, instantly the name of Aircrafisniau Sliaw was connected with the debacle. Colonel Lawrence has bad nothing to do with the revolt in Afghan istan. But he was far too near Posb.v WHi- for rumor to keen its tongue still. Therefore-he left India, Sine* the publication of the '•Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and "The llev.ut in the Deserts" much has been learned about Colonel Liwroive. Most p*m?e know the salient facts about tys career —bis studies as an nndorgvadwate at fix ford, his fondness for the military a'chitccttirc of the Levant. Ids three w.vks 1 <looks' tour to the desyrt that last*d fear three vears. bis rejeetion from the army as an unfit, bis appointment to the niap-makiti- department in t>imK bi* ess-ape to Arabia, he uncanny luftuonee over the Pedouins, the wrecking of 19 Tin-kisli trains, the welding W an \iab.an armv whirh one da* found itself the niu.flicial right wine ot i*ra \llenb\s ferce. and at the lu»d oi whvh ' when the vouug colonel was about "2fl. he rode" into Pnmitseus m trittinph.