MILITARY AND NAVAL NOTES

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9316, 17 August 1908, Page 3

MILITARY AND NAVAL NOTES

The sunset of General Buller s career was not splendid — a fortune's stroke many a distinguished man. and distinguished soldiers more than any, has had to bear before him (says the " Saturday Review "). But when such a man dies, the world remembers again that in spite of the last phase he was of much mark. Men begin to look at his career as a whole. It would be unfair indeed to Buller to forget all his services at the War Office in his shortcomings in South Africa. It is probable he had not the kind of intellect required for supreme command in a great campaign ; though others, with certainly as little of that intellect, have enjoyed the rewards of success. No doubt Buller's manner was not too gracious, and he was not always as considerate to his officers as he Avas to his men. Perhaps he was on the whole happier in non-military society : he was very fond of art and liked to have men of literary culture about him. With all his faults. Sir Redvers Buller will always be remembered as a fine fellow.

Lord Wolseley, who passed his seven-ty-filth year in the week which saw the death of his old comrade, Sir Redvers Buller, might easily have long predeceased him (remarks the " Pall Mall Gazette "). He was more desperately wounded while Acting-Engineer in the Crimea, at the very outset of his career, than, as it chanced, Sir Redvers over was, though Wolseley's maxim always was that if you want to get on in the service you must lose no opportunity of getting killed ; and Buller' s practice was suggestive of much the same view. Sir Redvers has died .vithout a son and heir, and Lord Wolseley's peer age, like Lord Roberts' s, has ml neen' of a special remainder to ensure its per petuation. The Hon Frances Wolseley will, by-and-by, be Viscountess in r«-r own right, as Lady Aileen Roberts viil be a Countess.

Two of the small cruisers condemned and removed from the active list of the British fleet are to be restored to ifc and fitted as mine layers (says a Home journal). They are the Andromacho and tho Apollo. When these have been equipped for their new uses we shall have five mine-laying vessels in the British fleet — tho Ipßigenia, the Fox, the Thetis, the Andromache and the Apollo, to wit. The mine-layer is the very newest distinct type of warship. It was first evolved in a crude form by the Japanese. From J hem tho fthniralty copied the idea, and invr-.v-td upon it by equipping small c.n'^TH specially for the work. These veßseis* are so fitted that they can drop a large number of submarine mines over their atern in a very short time. No other European navy possesses auxiliaries of this kind. But in the British fleet they have evidently come to stay, for their numbers are being gradually increased.

For twenty-three years past the flags hoisted on the anniversary of Trafalgar intended to reproduce Nelson's famous signal have, it appears, been totally wrong (remarks the " Saturday Review "). In 1886 the Admiralty were persuaded that the flags then in use for anniversary purposes belonged to a code which only came into force in 1808. Mr W. Q. Perrin, the Admiralty Librarian, has now discovered, as Mr Macnamana explained in his answer to Mr Bellairs, in the Commons, that the change made in 1885 was unwarranted. In. 1803 tho Admiralty had "reason to bellere that by the capture of a schooner in the Mediterranean x the private signals of the British Navy had fallenjjnto the enemy's hands. An immedijßfcjartd drastic alteration in the flags/ftse&l was ordered, and Nelson's flignaL'YJf made on the old system, wotildUn) 1806 have been meaningless to his captains. During nearly a quarter of a Njfejffury we have been saluting a combination that Nelson would have adopted if the signal had bsen given two years before Trafalgar. The Admiralty in 1803 sought to deceive the enemy ; in 1885 it deceived itself.

The Czar's appointment of King Edward to be an Admiral, honoris oailßa, in the Imperial Navy will about complete the list of naval' distinctions which his Majesty possesses (sayß a Home naval writer). The addition of a Russian Admiral's uniform to the Royal wardrobe will, however, bring no very distinctive habiliment. Naval uniforms, nil tho world over pretty well, are navy blye ; the British fashion in this matter has been the rule with maritime people in general. That blue was ever selected for the King's naval service was, no doubt, a fortuitous happening. When, in 1747, the question of uniform was being considered, the colour selected had very liko to have been French grey, laced with silver. Keppel was in London at the time, wafting for his court-martial on the loss of the Maidstone; and he and some other naval officers were dining one night with the Secretary at Whitehall. Keppel was one of those who were asked to suggest a uniform, and to appear at Court habited therein, according to their individual taste and fancy, in order that the King might see and compare th© samples. KeppePs notion was the French grey and silver aforesaid, and it seemed to find acceptance, when, while the King was still not quite decided, he saw the Duchess of Bedford in a riding-habit of blue, faced with white, and enlivened with gold lace. It was a revelation. Here, the King declared, was the uniform for his sea-service officers; and no more was heard of French grey. The Navy took to blue, and every other navy has taken to it since.