A £l0,000 A YEAR MAN

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 305, 19 September 1921, Page 8

A £l0,000 A YEAR MAN

ROMANTIC CAREER OF SIR ERIC GEDDES. One of the most romantic political careers of recent times will come to an end when, and if, Sir Eric Geddes relinquishes the post of Minister of Transport to become a director of the great firm of Itover Brothers, Limited, at an annual salary of £lO,OOO (says the Daily Mail”). There are not many business inen in the world, one imagines who have enjoyed the distinction of being both a Vice-Admiral and a Major-Gen-eral.' Yet these are only two of many distinctions enjoyed by Sir Eric, who, by the way, is only 45 years of age. He has been First Lord of the Admiralty, and is, among other things, a Privy Councillor and u K.C.B. Indeed romance and success appear to have dogged the foosteps of this young man pretty well throughout his career. Born in India, at 17 years of age he gave up all idea of qualifying for a commission in the Army, left hia college, and went to the United States, where, after a preliminary period in Mr. Andrew Coinegie’s steel works at Homestead, ho spent four years in lumber and railway work on the Baltimore and Ohio hailroad Later he built light railways in the Indian jungle and subsequently managed them. Returning to England, he entered the service cf the North-Eastern Railway, where he rapidly worked himself up to the position of Denuty-Gcn-eral-Manager. When the war broke out he played an important^part in the organisation of the munitions supply, and was hiter appointed Director-General of Military Railways. His subsequent career has been suffic'cntlv indicated in the opening lines o" this paragraph. Sir Eric Gedd’ii is a brother of Sir Auckland Geddes, the British Ambassador at Washington.