The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15. LORD KITCHENER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 56, 15 June 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15. LORD KITCHENER.

For nearly « quarter of a century Lord Kitchener has .had nothing that by any stretch of imagination could be called a holiday. 'He seems to-day as far off as ever from any prospects of getting 'on#. ■ The nation, feeling more than ever the need of his .peculiar qualities, will insist on working him so long a.s he has an ounce of vitality left. It is not a question of whether but of where and how he shall continue to be employed. It ii odd, looking iback on liis achievement# since he first landed in India in November, 1902, to recall the head-shaking* which greeted the news of his appointment to the Commaudersliip-in-Ohief. Many people, Lord Rosebery, it will be remembered, was one of them, thought that he should be kept at home and given a free hand to clean up the mes» of the South African war, and reorganise the Army from top to bottom. Otheft doubted whether even his remarkable gifts of administration would not nullified by his ignorance of Indian conditions. Others, again, somewhat dreaded the impact of his masterful personality upon the personnel and mechanism fif Anny, predicted a regime of atom and straps, (prophesied .that §yen India would not be found large enough to hold two such men as Curzon and Kitchener, and were fearful lest the new Commander-in-Chief's soa.what hard,' self-contained and femorseless tempemment might (Oso him .the sympathy of the native troops—who, remember, form two-thirda of the armed forces of the I Crown in fche dependency. Only one of misgivings has heen justified by fcne event. India was not found big enough for both Lord Curzon and Lord Kitchener. Within thirty months of tile latter's arrival the two men were at loggerheads over the status and authority of the Oommander-in-Chief. In the end, after a controversy that resounded throughout India and Great Britain, that ended in Lord Curzon's resignation, the victory went on all counts to the Com-mander-in-Chief—to the immense benefit of administrative efficiency and without producing any of the constitutional disasters feared by Lord Curzon. With that exception Lord Kitchener's term of office led to. none of the convulsions anticipated ,by his critics. He proved, ladeed, as he always must, a most salutary nuisance, reforming unsparingly but never hastily Or without a constant eye on the finances of the country and the susceptibilities of its people. What did he accomplish ? He introduced a system of devolution .which while relieving headquarters of a mass of petty detail, enabled divisional and brigade commanders to train and organise their troops, and to furnish themselves with equipment and transport, under conditions as nearly as .possible approaching .the conditions of "war. Nine such divisions, each consisting of three .brigades—lßo,ooo men in all —completely, equipped, drawn from a specified divisional area, concentrated at a few large centres instead of spread over a vast area in small and disconnected bodies, are the fruit of his handiwork. But besides this, Lord Kitchener brought both the various staffs and commands and the different departments at headqmartersi into a closer working harmony; he created an Indian Staff College; he had every battalion put through a test that disclosed many weak as well as irony strong, points; he re-armed the artillery with quick-firing guns, and the infantry with the new rifle: he brought the Supply and Transport Corps within the general administration of the Army; he raised new regiments from among the fighting races; and he greatly improved the conditions of active service by granting free kit and firewood and forage, by increasing the rate of pay, and liberalising the regulations in regard to pensions, travelling allowances and railway passes. As the result of his remorseless energies the Indian Army may he said to-day to he in a .position to stand the first year of a war with a first-class Power without assistance from Home. On September 10 Lord Kitchener laid down his baton, and at the request of the Home Government visited Australia and New Zealand to lay the foundations of an Imperial army. In Australia his success was immediate and enduring; and the memorandum on the defence of Australia which lie handed ■to the Commonwealth Government at the close of his tour of inspection has already taken rank as a State paper of the first moment. In it Lord Kitchener worked out in considerable detail and with the insight of a true statesman into local sentiment and' conditions, a plan of military organisation which in seven years' time will give Australia an army of 80,000 men, raised by universal service, with 'officer* trained on the West Point model, and attached from time to time to regiments in Oreat BriI tain and India. In this country, whera the movement in favor of a fully-trained citizen army is hardly less popular than | in Australia, though not so fully del veloped, Lord Kitchener scored another triumph, both personal and official, the Government only interpreting public opinion when it promised to give legislative effect to his recommendations. Now that he is hack again in England, what is to be done with him? How can the nation best turn his unique capacities to account? He was appointed Inst August, as everyone remembers, to the Mediterranean command. Well, the Mediterranean for two thousand Tears or more has been the classic scene of •European conflicts, and nothing vet has happened to displace its commandTng po-

litical authority. From the British .standpoint, it was, perhaps, never mor# imgwrtant than to-day. With Gibraltar, Cyprus, Malta and Egypt in our hands; with the Suez Canal to safeguard if the short cut to India and Australasia is to 'be held; with the military forces that we possess in Africa to be organised and ibrought under a single authority; and with its accessibility as a point of concentration and as a base of operations—the Mediterranean is still the geographical centre of t'he British Empire. Nevertheless the post of High Commissioner And Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean is almost ludicrously unworthy of Lord Kitchener's abilities; he could exhaust all its possibilities in three months; and after that there would .bo nothing left for -him to do font to bask in the gardens and sunshine of Valetta. To a man of Lord Kitchener's record, temperament and vigor—he is still short of sixty and as active and mind and 'body as most men of five-and-forty—the proposal that he should exile himself to Malta can only appear a rather bad jest; to the nation it is sheer waste or invaluable material. It is therefore not surprising that K. of K. has withdrawn his acceptance of the position. Mr. Haldane, speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, stated that the duty of inspecting the forces overseas, except In India, would be attached to the post; but there is more important work for a man of his genius to perform, and this will be found', as suggested: by the Times'i military correspondent, in completing I the re-organisation of the Home army, as well as welding the whole Empire into a single military organisation that would continue uniformity of principle, equipment, and training with the free iplay of local sentiment and ambitions.