GERMAN’S TRIBUTE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 89, 25 January 1938, Page 4

GERMAN’S TRIBUTE.

THE LATE COLONEL BUCKLEY. t The following tribute to Colonel G. A. M. Buckley, who died in England recently, was paid in “The Times,” London, by Dr. Herbert Sehroeder 9 a German: “The passing of Colonel G. A. Maclean Buckley is most grievous news, not only to his many friends in England and the Empire but also to all those in Germany who had the good fortune of meeting this extraordinary man. Outside Britain, too, everybody who came in touch with this most charming personality could not help becoming his life-long friend. I shall always gratefully remember the keen interest which he took in Anglo-Ger-man relations and the promotion of goodwill between our countries and the great hope which he put in the younger generation as its Avantguard. In spite of his 70 years he himself still seemed almost an undergraduate when we met for the last time some eight weeks ago in his London residence, and he smilingly agreed that during his last stay in Germany, where he succesfully underwent a very serious operation in a Berlin clinic, he succeeded in turning even this hospital into an Anglo-German Club with a good drink always close at hand. “During my term of office as director of the Anglo-Gerjnan Club Academic Bureau in London, G.M.B. was always ready to co-operate, always sincerely interested, and there were even cases of endowments and scholarships where he helped financially. He was always ready to show young Germans who came to London the beauty of rural England—and the most perfect guide he made, taking them round in his caravan or ear. But the strongest impression on everyone always remained the man himself. His was a personality that in itself spread international understanding and appreciation more than lectures, agreements, or books can do. I could give no better to such of my friends who were eager to know the real England than to go and see G.M.8., for there was a man who was a living embodiment of all those qualities that constitute England and have made your country great —human qualities the majority of foreign students are able to get an idea of unfortunately from books only. To me he always will live as the personification of the true English gentleman.”