THE EARL OF BALFOUR

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27501, 8 November 1954, Page 10

THE EARL OF BALFOUR

BUSINESS VISIT TO DOMINION

FAMILY. LINK WITH CANTERBURY

(New Zealand Press Association) .. AUCKLAND, November 7. A Jink with New Zealand forged more than 50 years ago by Mr A. J. Balfour, who became Prime Minister of ureat Britain, was renewed when his nephew, the present Earl of Balfour, ar £l. ved lr t Auckland by air today. Mr A. J. Balfour visited the Dominion as a young man, and bought a farm m Canterbury. The Earl sold tne farm but retained his interest in New Zealand. Lord Balfour is here for a business trip as managing dirteior or Brunton s, Ltd., wire rope manufacturers. Lord Balfour’s home did* not escape the misfortune that has overtaken nearly all the larger British family estates. Just before the Second World War, he offered his emptv mansion as a home for refugee Jewish children, and 250 children moved in. Now the house is an “approved school” for boys who need a mild form of reformatory discipline. The estate also dwindled, and the Earl farms about 1000 acres. He was the first Scottish farmer to use a combine harvester. An overdose of government had been largely responsible for the revival of Scottish nationalism, Lord Balfour said. He was chairman of the recent Royal Commission on Scottish Affairs which found that Scotland would have little to gain and a great deal to lose from any breakaway. Government controls, imposed during the war, were blamed by some nationalists on the English, said Lord Balfour. As controls were lifted, opposition to the central Government was fading, and he felt the nationalist movement was not strong today. The Convenanters, or moderates, claimed a following of 2,000,000, but the figure was open to doubt, and the two more radical parties refused to disclose their membership. Lord Balfour will leave Auckland tomorrow and travel through both islands. He will return to Auckland on November 21, and will leave the Dominion on November 24.