Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/197

 land it is appreciated, and I am glad to tell you that throughout N.Z. the Government's action has been generally approved. I read with great interest all you say in your letter of 26th March accompanying the posters.

I feel very happy at what we have done, as I feel very strongly that duty to King and Country calls for co-operation between the mother land and the oversea dominions and so show the world that we are deadly in earnest in our determination to stand together as one in reality, and I am sure myself that there is in the matter of Naval Defence a new era opening out for the British Empire.

The Conference that your Prime Minister has announced is a most desirable move. The date it is to be held will determine whether we can he represented. We will be there if at all possible. I am writing hurriedly to catch the mail, with all good wishes.

In reprinting a letter from the great Victorian hero, Field-Marshal Viscount Wolseley, it is perhaps hardly necessary to speak of the high esteem and admiration he felt for every branch of the Service of which he was Commander-in-Chief. Those familiar with his famous book, "The Story of a Soldier's Life," can never tire of reading the gallant and heroic deeds told with the simple admiration of one fearless soldier for another. To-day, when war is more than ever a science, it is easy to understand the emphasis Lord Wolseley, throughout his career, laid upon the necessity of officers obtaining a scientific education, without which the highest personal valour is insufficient to ensure victory. On November 1st, 1900, he wrote from Beech Hill, Sheffield: