In a few days' time the officers lof the 12th Lancers at Cairo will be receiving into their midst a modest. soldier who-will claim very long ac-Jquaintanee with them. Incidentally, the soldier will be a full Field shal, will be a little bald,. but his figure will be very nearly as slim Jand as straight as it was when as fa subaltern of two years' standing] '2 subaltern of two years' standing he was transferred from the 4th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers to the 12th Lancers in 1885. Ten, [years ago he became the Colonel of the Regiment, but he has not been fable to see much of it because their ways have lain apart. For the last five years Sir William Birdwood has holding the biggest single com-nian of any soldier in the British Empire, the Commandership-in-Chief India, As a week ago he aid down that office, he determined, on his way home, to drop in at] Cairo and recapture some of the] est-of the old days when he served with the 12th Lancers.
Sir William Birdwood's military Jeareer reads almost like that which, might fondly be imagined to be evolved by the perpetually good boy fof the school, There is hardly [post in the Indian military admini tration that he has not filled, and when the Great War came to test, as it did test, so many good boys of the class and found them wanting, he managed to go through trium-pliantly. In the War his outstanding feat was the evacuation of Gal li poli, for although the decision to evacuate was practically made Sir Charles Monro, the plan itself and its smooth execution lay mainly in the hands of Sir William Birt. wood, who had originally landed in Gallipoli as the Commander of the Anzacs. In this command, by the way, Sir William Birdwood proved his versatility. Those who were ac-Jeustomed in the ohi days to travel Detween Australia and Englan would have wondered at the temerity] of the authorities in selecting ani Anglo-Indian (Old Style) to command the Australians. Because, putting it bluntly, there was) never any love lost between: the" Anglo-Indian passengers; and the "Australian-bound pas sengers on the P. & 0. ships, and for a man who had proved himself a success in the ratified atmosphere of Simla the command of such' highly unconventional soldiers as the officers and men of the Ancacs might have early proved discon. "|certing. Yot before long they were calling him "Birdie," and it is still fon record that they' did not hesitate to enrich their stock of war anecdotes! rth affectionately ribald Jests about name.
But after all it is in India that} Sir William Birdwood will be best} remembered. Although it possibly' is not altogether certain that the suggestion that he may yet see Australia in an official capacity can be dismissed. Lord Roberts served 41 years in India. Sir William Birdwood has completed 46 years' ser-n Army. To one} of his name this is merely rendering] tribute to a country already rich in records of Birdwood service. Sir} George Birdwood is perhaps the most famous of them all by reason lof his deep knowledge of Indian Tanguage and customs. It is even! said about him that in one part of India his name is still worshipped fas that of a god. Sir William Bird-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.