THE NEW GOVERNOR.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13742, 25 May 1910, Page 7

THE NEW GOVERNOR.

INTERVIEW WITH LORD ISIING-, TON, .AN ACTIVE PUBLIC CAREER. (FltOll OITR OWX CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, April 15. Before this letter reaches its destination, tho new Governor of New Zealand will hare embarked for the Dominkin. The appointment \ras made on Saturday. By Monday Sir John DickscmPoyndor (now known as Lord Isliiigten) was thick in tho turmoil of preparations for his hurried departure,' and acknowledging a shower of congratulations from the host of frie&ds whom his personality and his publio services have- mado for him. Sir John Dickson-Poynder's appointment to the Governorship is in part the outcome of a friendship, of many years' standing between him and Mr Afequith. From a .political point of view Sir John no doubt rather welcomed tho change.. A man of independent thought, ho had already crossed tho floor of the House on the tariff question, and now, during the last year or two. he had begun to feel an estrangement from the» principles of that part of the Liberal Party which Mr Asquith does not lead.

Hβ was at an impasse, faced with th© ;~ - prospect of becoming an /unattached independent, and consequently being squeezed/out of Parliament. A mad of broad views and eorae knowledge gain-, ed by,travel, Sir John welcomes en-, thusiastically his transfer from the national to the Imperial field. Hβ is a strong believer in Imperial Federation, and is delighted at the prospect of being able to assist in the movement in - c. position .removed .from controversial politics. ~. ' ' , As a consequence of his appointment Sir John Dickson-Poynder consented on Tuesday to grant an interview to tho correspondent of "Th© Press." Inirhat said he was necessarily i and excusably cautions, for. while holding tho strong opinions Which have characterised him throughout his public Lie. lie .realises.Mat the post which he will shortly assume imposes certain hmitatons, ; and renders 'it highly desirable that he should not touch upon debatable political ground. One would fain have tempted him to express opinions on matters of Inweri&l intirost, but his wish had to be TWpected and he restricted Jiimself to Riving ■ information which,' in the following transcript, has been freely elaborated b,' reference to published reports of Parliament and other sources. ... Tall, well-knit, with mddy complexion and grey hair, Sir John looks tjje personification of energy and haTd work. The hair and the heavy moustache aro both greyer than his age, ond tho well-defined eyebrows and square jaw lend strength to an altogether handsome face. IMPERIALIST BY TRAVEL Though he has.not been in "Australasia before, and looks forward to his' new stewardship with tho Iteenest interest on that account, tho Govornordesignate has seen luoro of tho aspecis of' Imperialism than is usually tbo case. His interest in th© then engroefcing subject of the relations between England in India and her Asiatic neighbours led him to tho East in 1895, ■ when he made a lengthy tour of the North-Western "frontier, examining all tho passos and strategical areproaches along a distance of 1300 miles. , Ho was also in India on other occasions. The work of Royal Commissions and! private business have taken him several tire es-to tho United States and Canada and the West Indies, -and, too, h© has seen something of South Africa in the . raw making. lii politics ho has always been sonie-,-thing of an independent. Referring to , hin secession from the Unionist ranks on the subject of Tariff Reform, he. remarked casually:. "I had been out .of touch with them before on a good many subjects.". His adhesion to the Liberal Party,, too. was of. an equally independent character. With the Knowledge ho possessed of tho housing question, ho moved many of tho important . • amendments io Mr Burns's Houeing and Town-planning Bill, and when it entne fo the Bndgotvhe was a, member of "The- Cave," an outspoken and eand'd critic of the land taxation pro- •" ■posflls. • "I criticised the Budget," he remark-.. e<l, "but I did not op.paseit in principle at all. It was really GOnte of th© . details I criticised, especially in regard . to land taxation. 'At tho time I did not consider it was a properly-thouiUit-cut scheme. The increment tax might have been -made much more simple, and,, cenfined to certain specified occasions, instead of being indiscriminate anduniversal. In my speeches on the fl.nbjeet I tried to show that there are only a limited number of cases in whichtnat taxation could bo imposed with profit , ■' to tho revenue and equity to the owner—that is to. say, only when the unearned profit is revealed, and therefore realisable. Whore land is enhanced . in value..through no energy or elpen- ' ditiire of canital on the part Of the owner, then" thai is unearned increment, and it seems, to mc, to be, perfectly fair that in times of national financial emergency an additional ofcli-' '■. gation should bo asked of such , I*l-0--pfcrtv. But it should bo strictly ocii- ■ fined to such cases." On th« fiscal question, which has so . largely dominated -his political c&roor", Sir John is quite unequivocal. *-*I am a free-trader right out," ho remarked -, with ein.tfhasis. "Then "that pute preference out or court?" I suggested. Sir John laughed, aud reminded mc that he- wa« leaving the arena of -party politics, and would,not make any state- . ment on a question which was probably debated also in the country to which ho was going. A SOCIAL REFORMER. In any cas© that is of minor importance. It is the now Governor's work in spheres moro or less non-political that will most appeal to the- people among&t whom he is going to livp and that fits him. k> carry out a conception of Imperialism and Empire solidarity in the everyday life of the p&ople. Both as,.a social reformer and in publio administration he has had a wido experience. Hβ will be a sympathetic student of New Zealand .politics. Ho is an. cmi- . nently practical man. ' ' A large owner of property in London, he entered the London Couuty Council in 1898, representing St. George's, Hanover Square. Though a Moderate, the Progressives elected him chairman of the Housing.of tho Working Classes Committee, and during his tenure of office some of the most important of the Council's scheme* •were cerried out. With the knowledge thus gained, Sir John becamo president of th* National Housing Reform Council (row the National Housing and Town Planning Council), one of the strongest bedies interested in the housing of the poor. Bβ took a leading part in the agitation which led up to the passing of John Burns'a Housing and Town Planning Bill, and was one of tho most in- . dependent and useful critics of the measure. Many of, the friondly amendments were moved by him personally. Another social question in which ho was deeply interested was tho feeding of the children at public elementary schools. He was one of tho loaders in this movement, and took a prominent part in tho debate in the Commons. For the past twelve years he has be*n chairman of the Great Northern Hospital, in North London. Lastly, ho was chairman of the Departmental Com- • rnittee of the Homo Office on the law . relating to inebriate reforms. "That report," ho said, "is - now urgently awaiting legislation. The whole question of tho custody of inebriates and the euro of the disease- in the early

tttago by a disciplinary system on modern lines in long oyerdue." ON SELECT COMMITTEES. Another »Select Committee of considerable interest to the colonies was presided over by tho new Governor, namely that on wireless* telegraphy. In tho old days intercommunication between vireless systems iras forbidden, and the result was in effect to tot up n monopoly in the Marconi Company. As a rrsult oE the Commissioner*' report there is a general"intercommunion tion between the various systems in ninu'S of peace, and proper safeguards in time <>i wiir. Amongst tho members of thnt Select Committee, Mr Sydney Buxton, Mr Arthur Ixh\ Mr Lambert (now a Lord of the Admiralty), and Sir Gilbert Parker, were associated with Sir .John.

Then, also, he Avas a member of the important Comniiwinn which enquired into tho tube railways of the metropolis nnd the report upon which the regulation of those systems is based. Ho was also :) member of the Commission on London Traffic, which sat for three years. In this capacity lie paid a visit to the United States k> examine the methods of traction in use in American cities.. After the "war, Sir John was nominated as a momber of the Parliamentary Committee to consider tho organisation of thr Yeomanry, tho report of which was tho basis of the present Imperial Yeomanry. Sir John remarked "that tho Royal Commi&mon on West Indian trade, which has just completed its work, was quite one of the mo.->t interesting he had served upon, because ot its great Imperial significance. It was the iirst, he- thought, on which British and Colonial Commissioners had sat together.. Lord Balfour of Hu Heigh was chairman, and there wero repiesentatives of the Canadian Government, , tho object ok the Commission being to enquire into the prospects of trade, between the AVret Indies and Canada. Tho Commis&ion spoilt two months in tho West Indies, and six weeks in Canada. Tho new Governor, as a close student of rating, valuation, «nd housing, will have an unique opportunity of studying the result of some practical experiments on tho spot. THE SPORTSMAN , . Needless to say, tho increasing burden of public affairs Las ieft gradually lees and le«a timo for Sir John Poynder to indulge in sports. He ia very fond of golf, but, as ho says, ho is an indifferent player, Lake- most squires, ho hunted a good deal in days gone by, but he has lately found it necessary to do less hard riding. Shooting he has always boon fond of. and ho ia keenly anticipating the pleasures of both shooting and fishing in Now Zealand. As a youth h« just missed representing Harrow on the cricket field, but he represented Christ* Church while at Oxford. He is also very fond of tennis. As a clubman he is a member of the Marl-, borough and tho Turf.