A PERSONAL SKETCH

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1930, Page 12

A PERSONAL SKETCH

THE NEW PRIMH - MINISTER

(By Chas. E."? tTheeler.)

The new Prime Minister has figured in our national lifo foi." so long a period that his elevation to the highest rank in Parliament creates no concern about the new, factors in leadership—there has been plenty of • time to assess the personal qualities oil the Hon. George Forbes, though it <raght to bo added that in the, wider field now open to him, he may be expected to develop those special ones. which are essential for successful control.

"Safe" is the-adjective which first occurs to anyone'«.vho ,wishes to briefly describe the Prini c Minister. He has the equable temp erament which meets a crisis quietly—■ too quietly say some of his critics win j have suggested that the United Partj / required someone at its head with more "dash." The ex■planation may He in a realisation that Mr. Forbes's ]<j adership opportunities hitherto have iw it given the opportunity for anything spectacular. He was selected as tho successor to the Hon. T. M. Wilford. in the leadership of his party when it«changed from "Liberal" to "National, 1 ' in July, 1925, thereby provoking tho criticism of 'the Hon. J. G. Coatesthat it had stolen his thunder. A General El ection which followed in November gave Reform a tremendous win, the cbet ntry providing the now leader of th) at party with a splendid political staj ;t by 'returning 55 of his supporters U > Parliament. The National Party compi ised but nine, so that Mr. Forbes's cJaances' to display vigour, "dash," ai id all the other elements in successful leadership must have been sadly curtt died. The situation called for restrai nt and patience, and Mr. Forbes led. his little handful on those lines. H»i has been similarly curbed in personal -expression during his Ministerial lift 3, much of which has been spent u» der the difficult condition of oxercisinjg a delegated leadership, with responsibility to his retiring chief, Sir Joseph 'Ward. Only from to-day can it be sfi;id that Mr. Forbes has a clear field' to show without restraint, whatever j ittributes of leadership he possess* ;s. A GOOD-HEALTH ASSET. Good health is his forturfato asset. Now 0} ealand has had two quite recent periods of anxiety over the health of Priniq Ministers. Political responsibility iij a tremendous physical strain whieJi has pulled down many men to prerwature collapse. So it must be couuHed as a cause for satisfaction that the new Prime Minister is "stocky," weli-set in physique, his appearance ev&ii to-day out one phase of nis. l early life, when he was prominent in ; Rugby football, and on that field woia his first position as*a leader, captain of j a Canterbury representative team. La st session with its long stonewall demonstrated very thoroughly that it will be hard to."wear out" the head of the Government by prolonged opposition. RUGBY HELPS IN POLITICS. A contemporary of Mr. Forbes in the Wast Christchurch team has recalled 'that he was a "nippy" half who played in the combination which won for the club the senior championship about tho year 1890. Forbes had been in a junior team, and got his first promotion through displaying resolute rush stopping tactics. Those were the days of the heavy forwards and the strong dribbling rushes by these stair warts. Forbes, says his old colleague, would fling himself into-1 the rush ■at tho feet of the opposing forwards, and lie on the ball. There would be a scrum over him,' away would go the ball'again, and if tho situation was desperate, tho future Prime Minister would again risk tho boot's of the forwards, and pull up the dangerous rush. Tlierc is something of that dogged character to be noted in Mr. Forbes's handling of Parliamentary situations, where tho movement sometimes resembles a hard dribbling rush, and needs strong but not spectacular defensive tactics from the Government side in resistance. i PROM BUSINESS TO FARMING. Tho Prime Minister did not~intend to be a farmer, and it was the accident of a land selection ballot which turned, him from business into a land career. His father owned a largo ironmongery and ship chandlery business in Lyttelton which he conducted for fifty* years. The future Prime Minister was trained to succeed in tho business, and as a good preparation was placed in a Christehurch mercantile office for two years. Mr. Forbes had returned to hia father's business and had settled down about seven years to a business life when the CheviotTcstato in North Canterbury was compulsorily bought by tho Government, . subdivided, and thrown open for selection by ballot. Canterbury was feeling the *'Jand,

hunger" severely, and this development gave its young men an opening of thre most attractive sort.

Tlu 3 Forbes family decided to try for a section, and throe brothers entered the" ballot, the plan being that the larger the number the better the eharjee. It was tho son Georgo who sucsoeeded in drawing a section, and as suu cessf ul applicants were strictly requJ red to live on their holding, Mr. Fo rbes promptly complied with this condition. , He commenced living on tl; c Cheviot land in a tent, and at that si age had no intention of permanently fiollowing a land occupation, though his 'brothers would have taken up that task.' The Prime Minister's father •wished to get his son with business iaptitude back to the work in town, but a fow months of country life were too i congenial for the winner of tho section, nd he decided to make his home in Cheviot. Mr. Forbes still farms the original section with an additional area making a, total of 1600 acres. He now has the assistance of his son, who manages tho farm during his father's frequent absences. Mr. Forbes takes many opportunities of getting back to the country just for a day or a brief weekend, and he is also there on the big occasions, such as the start of harvesting, or the shearing. When the last clip was being shorn, Mr. Forbes took a hand, picking up the fleeces as they fell from the shears.

"You don't often have a deputy Prime Minister picking up fleeces for you!" remarked Mr. Forbes to one of his men, who has reminded him of this in a telegram of congratulation on his further rise in the political scale.

Mr. Forbes on. tho platform displays very accurate]}' his personal characteristics. Heights of eloquence are not attempted, for be makes his points in a good-tempered moderate fashion typical of the average Parliamentary speaker. He is not hard to understand, for he goes straight to his ' objective, though he might gain more forco if he were a little quicker in reaching it. As his direct methods disdain smartness or equivocation, he enjoys popularity even with those who dislike his opinions. As leader of the House, he exercises' control'without display of force, a highly essential quality where the Government has no enforcing majority. His sound knowledge of Parliamentary procedure, gained in the hard school of opposition, is a good equipment for sessional duties.