The Star. TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 1902. A TASK ENDED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7436, 24 June 1902, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 1902. A TASK ENDED.

After » a sojourn of about tvrc j years and a, half in South Africa, j Lord Kitchener has set out ck ! ■his Mtum homer. The task begun j by Sir ReaVers Biiller and; Lord Roberts, and carried on by their successor, is finished, and after a period of uninterrupted labour and unceasing responsibility the victor of Khartoum, on the fifty -first anniversary of Ms birthday, is in a position to take off his harness and enjoy a well-earned i"ast. Of the two years *aid! a lialf which he has been employed in South Africa, the first year was spent as chief of Lord Roberts's staff, and the. last ! eighteen months in supreme command. A comparison of the duties appertaining to those two offices leaves the observer still wondering whddh entailed the hardest work the task of evolving order out of the chaos which reigned among the British transport arrangements when 'he reached Gape Town, or that delegated to him when Lord Roberts went back to England with: tike delusive tidings that the war was practically over. It is a. matter of history now.^ that, instead of being- .at an. end, the war was entering on» a new phase, which was to last no less than eighteen- month®. Tl.i qualities which made Ritchon'er famous ia-'i North Africai have never stood out more-; prominently than they did during that; long and anxious period) which followed his assumption of the leadership of the British forces at the southern end of th©' conti- i nent. The situation demanded unflagging i en-ergy and persistence, and mastery of the art- of organisation, coupled with a stern j determination to adhere to a certain programme, -heedless of the cries of critics and! the sneers of enemies. When Lord) i Kitchener first took over t!he ireins ids critics declared that he would purge Skrathi j Africa in a holocaust of blood ; when it was seen that his methods were bo sterner thorn those of his predeoessor his opponenlts accused Hum of undue leniency, anjd\w ! heni the war dragged 1 on. and looked like continuing indefinitely they asserted that the result was dv© to lias inoompetency, and publicly demanded lids recall. li._ Lord Kitchener heard their outcry he paid 1 mo attention to ; j it. Throtlg-hoTit it all, throughout the changing scenes of the campaign, undismayed by reverse, unaffected Iby success, this quiet, purposeful roam- pursued Ms way to the goal wMch his relentless perseverance hadl marked out for him. He has reached! it at last, aibd the small minds which, a few months' ago, w-ere clamouring for his recall are oompladnimg now that his reward 1 is not large enough.