MISS BONDFIELD'S PLACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 21, 25 January 1924, Page 5

MISS BONDFIELD'S PLACE.

LADY ASTOR ANGRY. SHOULD BE IN MINISTRY. BUT DOES NOT WANT IT. (By Cable.— Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received 12 noon.i LOXDOX, January H. "1 am certain if any man had done as much work for the party as Miss Bondfield he would have been a member of Cabinet," said Lady Astor in an angry speech at a reception tendered to women members of the House of Commons by the. Society for Equal Citizenship. Lady Astor added: "Every woman in the country irrespective of party, had been hoping Miss Bondfield would be a Cabinet Minister. "We are all bitterly disappointed at the omission." Bhe said: "It is a sign that women have still to fight against the prejudices of the people. It is said J Miss Bondfield is omitted because of her want of Parliamentary experience. I know some Cabinet Ministers whose Parliamentary experience is not to their credit.' . Miss Doreen Jew-son (Labour) iXorwich) said the Labour party is really anxious to appoint women. She knew Miss Bondfield did not. want to enter the Cabinet. It was a tremendous advance to have a woman in the Government, and they all ougtit to rejoice thereat. — (A. and X.Z. Cable.) A BRIEF CAREER. ißeceived 11.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. Earl Harrowby, prior to sailing for Wellington in the Maunganui, predicted a brief career for the British Labour Ministry. Its continuance in power, he believes, would result in chaos and further unemployment.— (A. and N.Z.) MR. E. SHINWELL. The « member for Linlithgow, Mr. Emanuel Shinwell, has been for many years in the forefront of advanced Labour activities. He was chairman of the Forty Hours Strike Committee, and in that connection he received from the Government five months' imprisonment and from the workers a gold watch. He has proved his capacity as a Glasgow Town, Councillor of seven years' standing, as president of the Glasgow Trades Council, and member of the executive of tho Scottish Trades L'nion Congress and of the I.L.P. Xational Administrative Council. Ho was formerly on the executive of the Vienna International. He is national organiser of the Amalgamated Union of Marine Workers. He was born in London, and is the only Jew on the Labour benches; and when to this imperfect record of what he has already done is added that he left school at the age of 11 and is still only 37, it will be agreed that his intellect and force of character are worthy of the race that gave British political life its Goschen and its Disraeli. Even in 1018 the County of Linlith- i gow gave him over 8000 votes against j Mr. Kidd-s 12,000 odd. Last November their totals were roughly exchanged, while a Liberal took third place. I MR. WILLIAM GRAHAM. He has been M.r. for the Central Division of Edinburgh since 1918, and is of the people, being educated in the national schools. He became a junior clerk in the War Office ana a journalist. He entered Edinburgh University, ol" which he is M.A. He has Deen a lecturer at Oxford, and is strong on economics. Ffis best-known book ia "The Wages of Labour." MR. F. O. ROBERTS. : Mr. Frederick Owen Roberts, the new Minister of Pensions, lias ijeen MJP. for West Bromwich since 1018, and was born in Northants. He was educated in the national school at East Haddon. He was a power in his own county among Labour, and as secretary of the Midland District Typographical Union he did good work for printers. He is on the executive council of tho Typographical T_ nion. MR. PATRICK HASTINGS. K.C. The new Attorney-General, the Labour member for Wallscnd, at the age of 16 was thrown upon his own mental and l physical resources, lie liau been edu- | aited at the Charterhouse, but liis firt-t regular employment, after a,period of struggle aud distress, was 'n a mine in Wales. Working hours in the pits were longer than they are to-day, but Mr. Hastings devoted much time to study, and by 189S he had become a mining engineer. When prospectors and investors saw visions of a Welsh goklfield, Mr. Hastings was placed in charge of nearly all the work of assaying. His mining career was cut short by the outbrenk of the South African war. He joined the Yeomanry, fouglit for two years, and was offered a commission. And then this career, too, was brought to a sudden end. An attach of fever forced him to return to England. It was during his convalescence that the idea of yet another career —his third—came to him. He would study for the Bar. But, meanwhile, how was he to" live, to say nothing of the cost of a legal training? Hard work—partly as a journalist on a London daily—solved the problem, and in 1904 he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple. In IBOG lie married. He has mentioned since that the joint fortunes .of himself and his bride amounted to £20. But from about that time professional success came rapidly. He took slik in 1919, and was soon one of the busiest and most successful of King's Counsel. His only difficulty has been that he could not be in two or more courts at one time. MR. JOHy'tf UVWSON. Mr. John Lawson, new Secretary of the War Office, was a driver in the Royal Field Artillery — the only man from the ranks who ever got a high post so suddenly. He began life as a collier. He worked as a pitboy from 8 to 18, and. then enlisted. He got all his primary education at various board schools, but both in his mining and Army life he addicted himself to study, and is in every respect a clever, cultured man. MR. SYDNEY ARNOLD. The new L"nder-Seeretary for the Colonies, Mr. Sydney Arnold, is a Libaral M.P.. aud was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the President of the Board of Education. Although he is a Yorkshireman he is also a Freetrader and a high official of the Free Tirade Union and the Ninety-five Club.

MR. BEN SPOOR. The Chief Whip, Mr. Benjamin Spoor, is M.P. for the Bishop Auckland Division , of Durham. He is deeply interested in all religious work, particularly in the V.M.C.A., his wife being a daughter of the Commissioner for the V.M.C.A. for the Mediterranean and Salonika. MR. P. J. O'GRADY. Mr. J. O'Grady was formerly the president of the Tradee Union Conference. He is considered to be a diplomat of parts, for he went to Russia in 1917 to do what he could to hearten tne people i of that great country to aid the Allies. I He met Russian Soviet representatives in 1920, and secured the repatriation of British soldiers and civilians interned in Russia. He is a Gloucestershire man ! (of Irish descent), who learnt the cabinetmakinp: trade in the nneient oitv of Bristol. MR. A .A .W H. PONSONBY. , Mr Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby. son of General Sir Henry Ponsonby, was an Eton boy and a Balliol man. He has been in the diplomatic service, and at the Foreign Office. Hie father was private secretary to Queen Victoria. Among his books are "The Canipl and the Needle's Eye,," "The Decline of Aristocracy," "Democracy and Diplomacy," '"Wars and Treaties," ■'Rebels and Reformers," "Religion In Politics." PROFESSOR R. RICHARDS. Professor R. Richards is a "scholarship" boy, who went to the primary schools and studied hard. His father was a Welsh minor, and himself a man of light ami learning, who wished for his son a better chance than he himself had possessed. Young Richards went to J Cambridge, where he was extremely ! popular, and a noted debater. He is ■ Professor of Economies at Bangor i I'nireruty. I MR. J. WKEATLGT. The new Minister of Health is a Glaewegan, ana da baillie of the ancient city, taking a passionate part in Labour affairs in a town that has a vast working population. He was a pitboy at the age of 11 years, and read sedulously in his teens. He afterwards obtained a job in a bookshop, and later became a printer and publisher, particularly of books and pamphlets relating to Labour and its ideals. Two now Ministers, Messrs. J. R. Clynes and Stephen Walsh, are of Irish descent. The two Irish Xationalists who voted with tho majority were Mr. T. P. O'Connor (Scotland Division of Liverpool) and Mr. J. T. S. Harbison, one of the members of the combined constituency of Fermanagh and Tyrone. The other Nationalist member for the latter constituency. Mr. C'ahir Healy, described by Mr. Andrews (Minister in tho Six County Government) as an "able man," is a political prisoner on the prison ship Argenta, in Belfast. Lough, where, he has been confined prior to and during the last two general elections. •