SIR GEORGE REID'S READY WIT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 734, 5 February 1910, Page 15

SIR GEORGE REID'S READY WIT.

' In an appreciation of Sir George Eoid, Australia's first High Commissioner in London,. "Ithuriel" writes'.. in the Melbourne ■. "Argus"':—"The '. speaker, 1 'a portly man, with a monocle,. which he occasionally used' as part of his equip-, ment for assisting a sally or disconcerting an jintcrjector, .was. standing; on. a low. balcony, in a. Sydney suburb on, a moonlight, evening,- addressing, a large assemblage, to the enjoyment of all,-him-; self included, for' he- -evidently/revelled in the -. successful cxerciso ■ of his , power to stimulate his friends and. dismay : his opponents., Just" as •ho was at his. best, a grocer's.'bair,tilled with flour..perfectly aimed, struck him' fair -on "the mouth." The bag, • bursting.'•■.' as. intended, .: distributed the flour ovenly,over his faco; Laugh! .Friend and.-foe joined in tho irrepressible,;cachinnation, : which, swelled and sank and rose ; again, sweeping in waves across tho crowd. Then it died away to a sob' here and there, and it broke out again- time after tinio, till it ended in. sheer physical/ exhaustion. Meanwhile the candidate lightly flicked with his handkerchief the flour from his face, and placidly awaited the subsidence of, the ■ hilarious tempest. Then, 1 adjusting the monocle, and slowly looking the crowd over from ono side to tho other, ho said:'' You see that even, my opponents' aro, 'determined- to- prove .what.a white man I am.' The laughter rose again in magnificent volume, but this tune it was with tho candidate, hot against him. It.was/tho hit of tho evening, and the speech of the evening'was continued to its triumphal conclusion under conditions which would have rendered almost any other sneaker irretrievably ridiculous. That incident : is thoroughly typical of Sir, George Eeid's' temperament and method. Tho acceptance of disaster' with ■ unruffled - front, tho flashing'wit which tarns a dangerous interjection into a boomerang which smites tho ■. thrower, tho courngoous, sanguine spirit,'are always manifest."