The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 20. KITCHENER FOR EGYPT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 22, 20 July 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 20. KITCHENER FOR EGYPT.

British genius in Egypt and the wonderful change that has come over the ancient, land because of it is largely responsible for the unrest that exists there. Britain has achieved gigantic tasks in Egypt, and has absolutely changed a slothful, poverty-stricken land to one that is brisk, progressive and rich. It has carried the torch of modern education to Egypt, and has made for itself a rod which the Nationalists are using with more or less effect. Men of a subject race, who are educated by our standards, sow discontent, and be-

come "Nationalists." For the disease of "Nationalism," which is a malady dangerous to the people of Egypt and to Britain, the British Government have prescribed Kitchener. Lord Kitchener knows his Egypt and the people of it. He is in part responsible for the wondrous change that has come to the ancient land, for he is as great an engineer as he is a soldier, and a greater statesman than either engineer or soldier. It is probably true that Lord Kitchener was too capable a man to have at Home. It was not desired that he should reform the War Office, kick out the old ladies and the musty "family" idea of running an army and substitute a busi-ness-like system that had nothing to do with hereditary privilege, or a place in Debrett or the advantages of ah Oxford education. The Army's cordial I dislike of Lord Kitchener dates from the days of his severe methods in South Africa, where it was efficiency, or "stellenbosch." It is a remarkable evidence of the consummation of even the greatest British Liberals that a Liberal Government, influenced, of course, by the bluest Tories in Torydom, refused to allow Lord Kitchener to disturb the dreadful dust in the War Office. The Government, as a sop to the idle soldier, believed it could get rid of him and allow the dust to go on collecting at Whitehall by packing him off to become a distinguished vegetable at Malta. He had no stomach for a command that was unimportant enough to have been handled, very often from a London palace, by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, and refused to take it. He believed, probably, that he was "de trop" and threatened to become a thorough-going civilian and bought a country house. He would probably have become a J.P., and have spent his time in shooting and hunting and fining the village toper 2s Cd or a week for inebriety. The British Government, quite apart from the personal aspect in regard to the death of Sir Eldon Gorst, must have heaved a sigh of relief at the occurrence of the vacancy which gave it the chance of offering great work to a great worker, of keeping the dust undisturbed at Whitehall, and of undoing the tangle of affairs Egyptian. The man who fought and beat the Indian Viceroy in a war of wits, who thoroughly reorganised the army in the Indian Empire, and who has persistently achieved great results in spite of official antagonism, is going to achieve great results in Egypt. He has a knack of making his antagonists (other than those of the sealing wax and ponderous tome order) respect and revere him. His sense of duty dominates his whole existence. Ho is adamant in its execution. The idea that Lord Kitchener is an ice-hearted butcher who loves destruction is one of the popular fallacies. His military dispositions have always been made with the greatest regard for the saving of life. When he has found it necessary to strike, there has been no "beg pardon" about it. Sentiment will not prevent Kitchener as a civilian from prescribing the medicine that is best for the cure of sick Egypt. It is not possible that he will permit without punishment the disloyalties that have encouraged the Egyptian "Nationalists" to bite the hand that fed them. 's?hose who deplore the fact that a great soldier should be given a civilian's task

must not forget that Kitchener is essentially an organiser, a strategist, and a statesman rather than a fighting man. He is more concerned with the i disposition than of the launching of an attack, a man who in the great game of chess, wherein real men are pawns, understands the value of every move. The work Lord Kitchener has to do in Egypt is, next to the reorganisation of the War Office, the work that is most after his own heart. It is net possible that he will please the British Government—for he has never yet done so—but he will do his duty, and Egypt will be all the better for it.