Evening star., 1909-09-05
Iron Beds.

made are really laughable. One OF the
dukes duties was to i:rpect the military
forces in the Mediterranean. but when
| he got to Malta he discovered that no pro-
vision had been made for his transport
| from place to place. The officials IN
Whitehall had forgotten, apparently. that
Egypt is 1900 miles from Gibraltar. and
that Malta is a long way from both The
duke made such row about this that the
admiralty was called on to help set things
straight, and cruiser. the Aboukir. was
detached from the Mediterranean squad
ron and assigned to the job of carrying
the duke on his inspection tours. All this,
of course. cost money. The cruiser cost
about $4,000 d year TO maintain, and the
salaries of the duke and his staff ran
away with nearly S1.nUD. The generals
who had been in command at the various
stations remained. aud the duke found
himself in the position of a very expensive
Nth wheel to the coach. position IN
which he refused TO remain.
Now an effort is being made TO punish
the duke by depriNin2 him Of his place on
the selection board. which chooses officers
for promotion, and this has raised more
opposition in the army than anything that
has occurred. There is no man in the
army who is more popular or who enjoys
the confidence of the entire body of Off
GERS to greater degree. The officers,
junior and senior alike. feel that their IN
terests are safe In his hands and that he
biIity of being Influenced by any intrigues
and jobs. This is one reason why 1t Is
said Lord Esber was anxious TO get MN
out of England. Army men say that Lord
Esher knew that when the duke was on
the selection board he could not carry
through his plans to promote officers who
were personally agreeable to him and to
keep back those whom he did not like.
The position taken by the Duke of Con
naught with regard to the Mediterranean
h.,o ,,,cf ind hI hat ri
lowed The intriguers felt that they must
put themselves right by finding great
soldier To take the post and they offered
it to Lord Kitchener. who promptly re-
fused. and. | am told. he used some un-
pleasantly plain language in doing so
Pressure was brought to bear on him. but
he refused second time. and then the
kings influence was brought TO pear
again Edward. told. is fully in
agreement with his brothers view. but he
hates a scandal. and he was persuaded
that the best plan was to continue the ap-
pointment for while and then drop 1t
when the fuss had blown over. Lord
Kitchener refused to be party to this
little scheme. however. and declared that
he would take the appointment on condi-
ton that it was made a real one. with
real work. Then it was announced that
the post in future would include the COM
mand of all the overseas military forces
of the crown. and Lord Kitchener con-
sented.
The army is not satisfied. however. and
the whole question is to be ventilated in
parliament Secretary Haldane Will he
asked to make public the Duke of Con-
naughts letter of resignation, which has
been kept secret, and he will also be
Lasked to explain why the duke has been
removed from the selection board. He
has already told some of his supporters
that his answer TO this will be that the
duke no longer having staff, is unable
10 acquain himself with the qualifications
OF the officers now serving. OF course, 1t
is absurd to think that lie could forge:
in year or so all he had learned about
the senior officers. and as matter of fact
there is no one in England who has so
wide and intimate an acquaintance with
| officers of all grades as the Duke of Con-
naught.