HON. ALEXANDER SHAW

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21090, 15 February 1934, Page 14

HON. ALEXANDER SHAW

AN INTERNATIONAL FIGURE MANY GREAT PUBLIC SERVICES (SPECIALIST •WRITTEN JOB THE I'KESSJ IBy S.M.J In the years that have elapsed since I last met the Hon. Alexander Shaw, v/ho will arrive in Christchurch this morning, the world in which we then lived has almost completely passed away. They have been for the British race years of terror and triumph and tribulation, and now when the long agony appears to be easing people may look back upon their travail to pay more attention to the pilots who have weathered the storm, and Who stand to-day high and firm in the estimation of their fellows. One such is Mr Shaw. His commanding position in the financial, commercial, and shipping business of the Empire and the world is proof of his quality. Such an honourable position is neither attained by accident nor retained with success; if character and ability be wanting. No one has questioned Mr Shaw's possession of these qualities in a supreme degree. He was blessed in his parentage. His father, the present "Viscount Craigmyle, one of the most distinguished jurists and judges of his generation, was Mr Thomas Shaw, a brilliant and rising advocate (or barrister) at the Scottish Bar when his son was born in 1883. His mother was a daughter of George Forrest, of Ludquharn, a .well-known Aberdeenshire family. The advantages of such a parentage are manifest and manifold —but there are disadvantages. The son may be—nay will be—measured against the stature of the father, and as so often happens, disappoints sadly. It is rot so with the Hon, Alexander Shaw. The son of a distinguished father, he himself achieved distinction, in his early years and has since then Jcept steadily adding to it. Now in the prime of life, he is one of the great figures of the world. Education He received his early education in Edinburgh, which even yet lays claim to the title of the Modern Athens. But while a Scot is proud of the Scottish universities and their long and noble history, he will admit that the copestone to a successful academic career can best be added in one of England's great universities, Oxford or Cambridge. Mr Shaw was one of those who added to honours won at Edinburgh honours won at Oxford. There his career was brilliant. He was distinguished among his fellows, primus inter pares, and their recognition of his qualities was testified by his election as president of the famous Oxford Union. Like his father he turned to the law and was called to the Bar in the Inner Temple in 1908. He practised in the King's Bench division and at the Parliamentary Bar, and soon had a great and lucrative practice, figuring in some of the most important cases of the period. In 1912 he entered politics as Liberal candidate for Midlothian. It must have been before then that I met him and heard him speak on a political platform in Selkirk. He was a forcible speaker, the speech was always phrased in choice English, and to the tine literary form were added the eloquence and wit and humour so reminiscent of his father. Radicals of the Borderland, so staunchly loyal to Radicalism and their member, predicted great things in the political world for their member's son. Fate or choice has withdrawn him from the political arena, but to-day he plays a part in the world equally grtat, equally important as if he had remained in Parliament and forged to the front rank there.

War Services Ho was unsuccessful in Midlothian, and two years later the Great War set the world on fire. Then his conspicuous talents were given to the public service in innumerable directions. But he could not resist the call to arms, and 1915 found him an officer in the Royal Marine Artillery. In that year he was returned as Liberal member for Kilmarnock, and held the seat until 1923. Back from the war, he gave himself devotedly to the handling of the great national problems precipitated by the world crisis. It is quite impossible to recapitulate his manifold services at that time, but as an indication of them it may be mentioned that he was a member of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Compensation Committee set up by Parliament; chairman of the special arbitration tribunal on wages of women munition workers; member of the enemy aliens' repatriation tribunal; member of the Board of Trade Advisory Council; and member of the Imperial Shipping Committee. In these offices his business capabilities were tried and tested. Little wonder that he turned his bacK on politics and gave himself to great commercial interests of international and world importance. Shipping and Banking: In 1913 he 'married Lady Margaret Cargill Mackay, daughter of the Earl of Inchcape, head and directing genius of the great P. and O. shipping line. That brought him into direct contact with the mercantile marine, and it was natural that when Lord Inchcape died he should be succeeded by his son-in-law, whose proved capacity had long been generally accepted. To-day, as chairman of the P. and O. and allied lines, Mr Shaw controls one of the greatest fleets in the whole world—if it is not the greatest. Wherever ship may sail, there is to be found the flag of the great P. and O. He is also one of the 24 directors of the Bank of England, one of the highest possible distinctions in the financial world. Among many other distinctions, he is president of the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom and High Sheriff of the County of London.

A Man of Affairs It might almost seem as if Mr Shaw has already, at a comparatively early age, secured all the prizes worth having in the spheres he has chosen for his life work. In New Zealand, to which he is paying his first visit, he will be listened to with interest and respect, for he speaks with an authority that cannot be challenged. He has already spoken on the menace to British shipping through the unfair competition of foreign subsidised lines, and New Zealand, with one ot the world's great fleets, associated with the P. and O. line, has listened, appreciating her own vital interest in the question. My own memory of him, going back 20 years, is of an athletic, fair-haired young man, who displayed much of the qualities which had made his father, the idol of the Borderers, a leader in Parliament, a power at the Bar, and later an ornament to the Bench. Like his father, Mr Shaw would be outstanding in any sphere, and at a time when the Empire and race are being beset by such economic and financial difficulties as were never dreamed of a generation ago, it is comforting to think that his sagacity, experience, and ability are being pooled with those of: other great men to find a way out of the imbroglio.