The Sun SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1914. SIR IAN HAMILTON'S VISIT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 73, 2 May 1914, Page 8

The Sun SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1914. SIR IAN HAMILTON'S VISIT.

In the face of extremely adverse weather conditions, the men at the Kowai . Camp have come through a trying ordeal with flying colours. It is a comparatively easy task to be a soldier in a peaceful war demonstration, when the sun is shining and the commissariat is working full time, but a man's stability, and thoroughness are tested by such weather conditions as were experienced last week-end and since. That practised campaigner, the Inspector-General of the Overseas Forces, was given an opportunity yesterday of witnessing the men in action. Judging from the reports of the review, the batteries, troopers, and infantry played the game in good heart, and to the obvious satisfaction of the Imperial military expert, who has a way of being quite candid and straightforward in these matters. In the march past, a splendid spectacle according to all accounts, the men acquitted with great credit, almost perfect alignment and a machine-like co-operation and action proving the training the" squadrons had undergone. The showing of the mounted men was particularly effective, and altogether the demonstration was a powerful testimony to the spirit that has made the camp a success under the most trying conditions, and to the methods .by which young *New Zealand is being taught the fundamentals of a sound land defence. It was epiite "inkeeping with the modern idea of peace manoeuvres —one of the results of the Boer "War —that Sir lan Hamilton should put the men to a test of his own. In the middle of a ceremonial movement he arranged suddenly a surprise attack. The resource and initiative of the response gave eminent satisfaction. This morning the General was down at Lyttelton with the big guns, ttnd this afternoon he had a look over the sturdy cadets, who, too, made a brave show under discomfiting conditions. The weather has done its best to drown the enthusiasm of the defence operations, but has quite failed to succeed. . The men will remember the InspectorGeneral's kindly notice of their steadfastness in a hard time of rain and mud.