MAJOR W. E. ELLIOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 190, 14 August 1933, Page 8

MAJOR W. E. ELLIOT.

BRITAIN'S ENERGETIC MINISTER. Doctor, engineer and lawyer, the British Minister of Agriculture (Major W. E. Elliott, P.C.), who has figured very prominently in the World Conference, is accounted one of the finest intellects m the British Cabinet. A man of great political courage and independent thought, he did not hesitate to champion the cause of Empire reciprocity when it was far from popular in Britain, and he has been a keen cate of Empire development. As Minister of Agriculture—one of the most difficult of portfolios in the British Ministry— his ideal has been the rehabilitation of agriculture in Britain. Legislation during the past 12 months towards this end ,has been largely duo to his initiative. Major Elliot entered the House of Commons as member for Lanark (Scotland) in 1918, after a brilliant academic career at Glasgow University. A Conservative, lie was successively Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health for Scotland, Under-Secretary of State for Scotland and Financial Secretary to the Treasury, before becoming Minister of Agriculture in the present Government, "jlis task at the Department of Agriculture is an enormous one, but many people in England feel that if any statesman could make a success of it, Major Elliot is the man.

His namesake in the Australian Senate, Senator R. D. Elliot, said recently that many leaders of British political thought regarded him as a possible future Prime Minister of Great Britain. A brilliant conversationalist, a quick thinker, and a man of swift judgment, Major Elliot is a powerful factor in Parliamentary debate. He lives in an ancestral home on the Scottish borders, and his favourite pastime is the traditional Scottish-game of curling.