KITCHENER'S WAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11282, 9 January 1915, Page 8

KITCHENER'S WAY.

! Som&few months after " K.," asTom•jny calls Lord Kitchener,' had taken "over the command from "Bobs" in ißouth Africa, he had occasion to visit 'fiome blockhouses which were in course [pt erection just outside one of the [leading commercial towns. One, he 'noticed, had been put up in a rather 'exposed position, and he therefore ordered trenches and sangars to be ifchrown up at once, in order to 'strengthen it. Going inside one of the Iblocknouses —they were all connected ;by telephone—he rang up th© officer commanding a unit in the town, when .the following dialogue took place:— K.: "Are you there?"

CO.: "Yes, sir." K.: "Are you , in command of jthe shire Regiment " O.O.: "Yes, sir." K. : " I wont a -working party, fifty strong, with entrenching tools, to be here at six o'clock to-morrow morning." . 0.0.: " I beg, your pardon sir, but my men are all employed on something or other, the majority escorting prisoners down the line." K.: " Oh, I see. Ah! is that a band ■I hear playing there?" 0.0. (hesitating): " Y— «s, sir." < .. K.: " Oh, it is. What band P" 0.0.: "Regimental band, sir, playing outside the mess." , K.i "Playing at mesa? Well—-ah—-ifust have those instruments put away for some future occasion, will you, and iiiake that working party a hundred strong to arrive here to-morrow morning at six o'clock, or there will be a regimental command vacant." 0.0. (stammering)* "Very good', »bv H That working party was mostly landsmen. Kitchener had heard the jflupio vibrating oa ijhe .telephone inL drumenV *■■■'.