In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 51, 1 March 1930, Page 28

In the Public Eye

M. Albeit Sarraut. France is again in the throes of a political upheaval and a new Prime Minister and a new Cabinet has taken over the reins of government. The change- came at a most awkward moment, for the Five-Power Naval Conference was sit

ting in London, and, next to Great; Britain, perhaps the most important State represented there was France. A change of Government meant a change of delegates, even though the Conference had been sitting for almost a week. M. Tar-

tlieu, the then Prime Minister, was compelled to return to Prance "with his confreres, and M. Chautenips-became head of the new Ministry, of which M. Albert Sarraut was Minister in charge of- the Navy. Tho latter was'then instructed by his leader to accompany M. Briand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to London, to represent Prance at further sittings of the Naval Conference. M. Sarraut is considered to be one- of the ablest administrators in Franco to-day, first gaining full Cabinet rank under M. Poiucare as Colonial Minister, a branch of State operations i.v. which he has had considerable experience. He was born in Bordeaux 56 years ago, and when only a young man of 30 he was Undersecretary of State for the Interior. His first move was to a similar position in the Ministry of War, where he remained for many years. In this post ho organised tho iirst aviation section of the French army, but it was in 1911 that he found himself and his career, when' he was appointed Governor-General of I Indo-China. The European mind regards the average subject native as something of a~ higher animal, relatively speaking; that is, he is higher than some , animals,' but lower than others, such as dogs and'horses, for example. M. Sarraut punished promptly, meting out .particularly , severe penalties for crimes against humanity—humanity, be it:understood, as defined by civilisation. Eoturning to Fr&nce, M. Sarraut outlined a dream he had encouraged during his governorship. This dream was that France's colonial empire, comprising a territory fourteen times greater than France itself, should be organised on a vast plan of development so'that the colonial resources should flow without delay"or impediment- through the coffers of tho homeland. A splendid dream. Unfortunately, however, others were dreaming: too, iand the Great War broke- but to turn at least one dream into a nightmare. M. Sarraut was kept in France- as.Minister of Education in the War Cabinet, which office he stood as long .as.lie could, aftor which he sought and obtained a commission as a second lieutenant, little enough for the man who had controlled the destinies of, the army for a number of years in pre-war years. Anyhow, Second Lieutenant Sarraut marched away to war, fought in the battles of Bois le Pctrie and Verdun, and at the latter place won for himself tho Croix de Guerre. In appearance M. Sarraut is disappointing. He does not look at all the sort of man one expects him to look. , He- has gloomy eyes, a taciturn mouth, and somewhat hollow cheeks. Physically he is well proportioned, and has what is usually termed a "strong face."-

Professor J. B. Brigden. Cable advices last week from Brisbane stated that Professor J. B. Brig.den, Economic Adviser to the Australian Overseas Transport Committee, had been appointed Director of the Bureau of Economics and Statistics of

Queensland. Professor Brigden is one of the out? standing economists of "Australia. His recent work in conjunction with Major Giblin, on the economic effects of Federal policy, caused a considerable stir at the time of

and was considered lucky to escape a term in Siberia. He remained out of Eussia until 1914, when lie returned shortly after the Great War had opened. It was then that tat- began his military career. He organised a troop of guerrillas in the Ukraine, and waged active war against the German army of occupation. It was not long before he was commanding a small army, and when the Revolution came in 191-7 this became- the nucleus of- the Tenth "Red Army. With the evacuation _of Ukraine by the Germans, M. Voroshilov became a member of the local Soviet Government, and ho was still later associated with Colonel Budenny as a member of the Military Council of the First Cavalry Army organised in the early stages of the Revolution. Stage by stage he has risen in the councils of the Bolsheviks, until to-day he is President of the Military Council and Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs, which places in" his hands almost autocratic power. Colonel Sir James lathgow. Recently it was announced that Colonel Sir James LitHgow, M.C., had been elected President of the Federation of British 'Industries for 1931, this office always being filled tho year before the gentleman elected takes ofh'ee. Sir James

shipbuilding business of llussell and Co., Sir James Lithgow is an active public worker, and on the occasion of his marriage in 1924 the town council presented him with an illuminated address, in which reference was made to the services rendered by him and the Lithgow family for a long period of years to Port Glasgow and its inhabitants. He is a man 'of warm sympathies, and his interest in the welfare of those less fortunately placed has been displayed in many practical ways. In hia desire to relieve the hardships caused by the shortage of housing accommodation, he, in conjunction with his brother, presented to Port : Glasgow various properties in the. heart of the town, valued at £50,000, this munificent gift rendering it possible to carry out a much-needed improvement scheme. He is a member of the; firm .of. Lithgows, Limited, but his activities are by no means confined to.his own undertaking. Although he is only in his forties, he has for years taken a leading part in the affairs of the shipbuilding industry as a whole, and as a negotiator in labour questions ho has displayed an ability which is recognised-on all hands, by the spokesmen for the men no less than by his fellow-employers. He is president of the National Federation of Employers' Organisations, a member cf the governing body of the Internationa] Labour Office at Geneva, and a past president of the Clyde Shipowners' Association and oi." the Shipbuilding Employers' Federation.. Apart from shipbuilding and marine engineering, he has important interests in iron and steel works and in coal, and those who know him predict that, hia influence in industrial politics, already so considerable, is destined in tt\e future to be much greater. During the war he commanded a battery of Territorial artillery composed almost entirely of workmen of his own town, and his services gained Him mention iv dispatches on several occasions and the award of the Military Cross. He was wounded, but remained in France until 1917, when he was recalled by the Government to take up the post of Director of Merchant Shipbuilding.

Sir Philip Game.

publication and •is still a matter of considerable disturbance to the big business men o£ tho Commonwealth. In addition to this and his manifold duties as a University . professor, he delivers the Pitt Cobbett lectures in Tasmania on important, topical subjects relating to industrial questions. He takes a prominent part in the Tasmanian Branch of the League of Nations Union, and is an inspiring force in the* Workers' Educational " Association movement. It is really in the latter direction that he has been one of the principal lead--1 er's -in Australia, and as a tutorial director of these classes ho has done his best to cany the ■benefits of higher education, especially on modern topical subjects, to the adult population '■' of Australia. He succeeded Professor Copland in the chair of economics at the University at . Hobart some years ago, and during this period ho carried out his duties as a lecturer ■ to the W.E.A., which is stated to be very strong in Tasmania. A year or tAvo ago he left Tasmania to take up ! the position of economic adviser to the ; Australian Overseas Transport Committee, an organisation which has the of the Commonwealth Gov- -' wnment. . • _ ' M. Klementiv Vorosliilov. : "A wild auti-Soviet campaign, has developed and the world's first proletarian nation is being drenched with '■'■■ an ocean of lies, libel, provocations, false documents, and sabotage," said ! M.' Klementiv Yoroshilov, Commissar ■ of War, in a wild

outburst of rhetoric on Monday, the twelfth anniversary of the format-ion of the Bed Army. For the past three years he has been declaring that the nations of Europe are arming again, even though they talk-

U^^B^Bg^i iiiwimi] oj j disarmament, and that their objective was Russia, which country is to be brought to its knees. These remarks are probably only an excuse for t?»e Soviet .Republics to themselves arns., bs-fc at thib distance from Europe it is doubly difficult to understand every-, thing that is happening in the many States, where politics and diplomacy are closely interwoven.- M. Voroshilov is both soldier and politician, and he combines with these two callings, the wiliness of the trained diplomat, a combination of craft and skilfulness which is usually dangerous to those outside the circle of his immediate interests. 'Che son of a labourer, he began to toil in the mines when only seven years old, and it was not until he was twelve that he first learnt to read. In 1903 he joined the ranks of the revolutionaries, and in three years ho had risen to the position of a special delegate to the Stockholm Conference. So active had ■become his operations, however, that the Bussian Secret Police arrested him, asd he >yas sentenced to banishment,

was created, a liaronet :• in 1925, bis honour, being i very popular ojte, especially on the Clydeside, where the Lithgow family are extremely well known and respected. At Port Glasgow, where tis father carried ou the flourishing

It was stated recently that Sir Philip Game was likely to succeed Sir Dudley de Chair as Governor of New South Wales, being the first Royal, Air Force officer to be appointed Governor of a Dominion. It was he who, with Sir

Hugh Trenehard, commander ,of the air forces iv 1917, built the R.AJP. up to its present high efficiency. They. were brilliant associates, the one the man of vision and illimitable ideas, the other, Sir Philip Game, the outstanding executive—-archi-tect and builder.

Sir Philip's share in that work was recognised by promotion from tho rank of Brigadier (flying corps headquarters, in 1916) to'that of Major-General. In the first honours list after the Armistice he' was made a Commander of the Bath.- As Director of Training and Organisation after the war he and Sir Hugh Trenehard succeeded in forming the basis of what is recognised as a j model organisation. He has his own pilot certificate. He reorganised the Indian 8.A.F., and his work was as successful as it had been in Prance and Britain, and on returning to England he went on the Air Council. He received his K.C.B. in 1924. The new Governor is a lean-faced, blue-eyed man of medium.height, 54 years of age, j with two sons, Philip (18) and David (15), and a girl of 11, "Rosemary. They live in Somerset. Sir Philip and his wife are fond of their garden. In Sydney they will find a new kind of gardening that should surprise and delight them, for the soil, responds with the greatest willingness to friendly care; He is said to have a flue direct way, a personality that one cannot help liking. We went into Fleet street when asked for an interview, j That, we are told, is his way—unofficial, informal, cheery, friendly. "Yachting?" he repeated. "No doubt I'll have- some splendid sailing. All my predecessors wer,e delighted with Sydney Harbour. For myself I - like a small boat —a small open boat." The man who sails a small open boat can be gauged by any 3 rachting man. He is of enthusiastic character who gets keen enjoyment out of small things. These trifles are of value in New South Wales. They are not in the records of the Colonial Office. From officialdom we get a man's worth as an administrator or business executive; from the indications arising out of a chat in an o*sce we ted those qualities that play such an important part in the relations between a community and the representative of tho King. Sir Philip Game was originally au artilleryman, ana was general staff officer at the outbreak of the war. Lady Game's mother was a grandchild of the last Octavius Wigram, uncle of Sir Henry Wigram, founder of the New Zealand aeroplane school at Christehurch, j whence 180 pilots went to the war, so that: it is quite possible that on some j not distant occasion either Lady Game,; or perhaps both she and the new j Governor-oleet, will pay a visit to this J Dominion. : |