TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 19773, 22 February 1923, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

The statement by a French Egyptologist that Lord Carnarvon and Mr Howard Carter are not as they suppose, ransacking the tomb of King Tutankhamen is likely to involve the British and French investigators in a wordy warfare which may not be settled by the discovery of the mummy about which all this wealth has been piled. Professor James H. Breasted, an eminent American Egyptologist, takes the opposite view. He visited the tomb and announced “Two facts are evident. First, it is clear that the place is the Pharaoh’s tomb and not a mere cache. Behind the remaining unopened sealed doorway we must expect to find the burial chamber of the Pharaoh where he still lies in Royal magnificence. Secondly, we have here a Royal burial very little disturbed, in spite of the hurried plundering it has suffered at the hands of the ancient tomb robbers.”

In the descriptions of various articles reference is made to gilt and heavy gilding. This conveys a poor idea of their value, because gilding, as it is known nowadays, was not practised by the Egyptians. The process they followed was to beat out strips cf gold until they were thin enough to lay on the objects it was desired to cover. Thus whereas modern gilding is but one-millionth of a millimetre thick, the ancient Egyptian gilding, according Io actual measurements, was from one one-hundredth to one twohundredth of a millimetre. The specimens so far seen in the tomb indicate that the process followed by other dynasties was in vogue in Tutankhamen’s time, and this means that the quantity of gold recovered will be much greater than would be supposed from the use of the modern expression “gilt.”

Links with historical occasions, are recalled with the announcement that General Sir W. N. Congreve, V.C., K.C.8., has succeeded the late Lieutenant-General Sir G. M. Harper to the Southern Command in the Old Country. General Congreve, who is sixty years of age, is the head of an ancient Staffordshire family to which Congreve, the dramatist, belonged. In the South African war, Captain Congreve, as he was then, was Brigade Major with the Ladysmith Relief Force, and he won his V.C. at the Battle of Colenso. With Lieutenant Roberta, Lord Roberta’s son, he volunteered to bring back Long’s guns, which were in danger of capture. The attempt failed. Congreve was wounded, but when he saw Roberts fall he went out and carried his comrade to safety. Roberts, who also received the Victoria Cross, died of wounds. At the outbreak of the European war Congreve became assistant military secretary and private secretary to Lord Kitchener. In 1915 he was given command of a division and in 1916 the command of the 13th Army Corps. He was wounded in 1917 and later became G.O.C. troops in Egypt and Palestine. His son, Major Congreve, of the Rifle Brigade, who fell in action in 1916, had the posthumous award of the V.C., as well as the D. 5.0., and M.C., thus repeating in General Congreve’s case the experience of Lord Roberts, whose son had the posthumous award of the coveted honour.