In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 65, 18 March 1933, Page 5

In the Public Eye

One of the foremost members of the British House of Commons, the Et. Hon. L. M. S. Amery, Secretary of State for the Dominions, has had a meteoric career. Last week in the House of Commons Mr. Amery seconded Mr. S. S. Hammersley's motion demanding^ that the Government, without awaiting international consideration of gold prices, should give effect to a wholehearted policy of raising sterling prices. Mr. Amery was born in India, and was educated at Harrow and at Balliol College, Oxford, and after travelling in the Near East he joined the editorial staff of the London "Times," where he remained for ten years. He .was chiefly connected with the Colonial department of that newspaper, but was an ardent tariff reformer, and his energies were eventually diverted to a history of the South African War, which he edited admirably. At first a barrister, he became a solicitor on leaving the "Times" in 1909, but soon abandoned the law for Parliament. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1911, and has sat with but little intermission ever sincu. The sensational byelection at East "Wolverhampton, when he won by a majority of eight, is still remembered. During the war he was made Assistant-Secretary to the Cabinet, and it used to bo said that he and Sir Maurice Hankey knew more official war secrets than any other two men in the country. He was also on the staff of the Supreme Council at Versailles, and he acted as assistant to Lord Milner. When the late Mr. Bonar Law became Prime Minister in 1922, Mr. Amery was elevated to Cabinet rank as First Lord of the Admiralty, and in that capacity he' was responsible for bringing before the House of Commons the proposal to build a naval base at Singapore. It is said that Mr. Amery was foremost amongst those younger Ministers who induced Mr. Baldwin to dissolve Parliament in November, 1923, and appeal to the country for a mandate to bring in fiscal duties to protect home industries from the unfair competition of European countries, which, as the result of the great depreciation of their currencies, were flooding the English market with cheap commodities of all kinds. Mr. Amery is a man of strong physique, but somewhat below normal height, and he is often referred to by his friends in the House of Commons as the "Pocket Hercules." He is an excellent speaker, but does not claim the possession of oratorical gifts. He is very much in earnest in everything he undertakes, and this characteristic has been displayed to the fullest extent in. the discharge of his important ministerial post. He is a man of strong convictions and great driving power, and has played, and will continue to play, a prominent part in the development of the Empire. He is an authority on Near Eastern questions, and a keen student of Imperial affairs. In 1927 Mr. Amery paid a visit to Australia and New Zealand to obtain a first-hand knowledge of the countries with which, as Dominion Secretary, he is called upon to deal. Mr. Andrew Mellon. Mr. Andrew Mellon, the retiring United States Ambassador in London, is one of the most striking of American personalities. For many years he was Secretary of the United States Treasury, and is regarded by his countrymen as one of the ablest and most astute financiers of the day. Through his own efforts he has become one of the world's greatest bankers, a man of outstanding ability and energy. Mr. Mellon hails , from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where many a fortune has been made*in. steel, iron, and coal enterprises. Tor a long time he was associated with Henry Prick, whose name was one to conjure with, in finance and industry. He is one of the richest men in the United States, and a few years ago his wealth was such as to place him fourth on the world's list of millionaires—he was said to own about £200,000,000 worth of interests in iron, aluminium, and oil. The main facts of Mr. Mellon's life are simple. His father went to Pennsylvania from Northern Ireland. He became a Judge and later founded the Mellon Bank, which, started the Mellon fortune. As a boy Mr. Mellon went to a State school, later going to college, but before he graduated_ his father took him away and put him into the bank. From the first young Mellon made a success of business. " He and his brother Bichard started a lumber company, which was so well handled that Andrew at twentyfive was appointed head of tho Mellon Bank. Like tha man in the parable of talents, he increased his father's modest million a hundredfold. From. Pittsburgh the Mellon interests spread far and wide. In addition to being a successful banker, Mr. Mellon is also a great industrialist. His bank lent money to many American enterprises which have since earned colossal fortunes, and frequently the Mellons had a part share in the growing business. Tho Mellon riches are derived from banking, coal, oil, aluminium, steel, car and ship building, real estate, carborundum, railways, water power, traction, locomotives, insurance, and ,many other prosperous industries. Andrew Mellon saw the coming demand for aluminium, and his Aluminium Company of America has long held a monopoly. During all this time he was living quietly in Pittsburgh. His office and his home were his major interests. Inevitably he was interested in politics, and for many years the Mellon family has been powerful in Pennsylvania. Apart from these interests there was his love for art He has been a consistent buyer of fine pictures, a connoissuer who loves to have them adorning his rooms so that ho can make them part of himself. Suddenly breaking in on his orderly routine came the invitation to go to Washington. It waa a great transition, and many people say that it made him' a changed man. It was not long, however, before ho established his fame as "the greatest Treasurer since Alexander Hamilton." When others passed from view, Mr. Mellon stayed on~ serving under three Presidents, Harding Coolidge, and Hoover.

The appointment of KeM-Marshal Sir "William. Birdwood as Colonel of the Horse Guards in succession to the late Field-Marshal Sir William Eobertson was announced this week. Sir William, who is well known to many New Zealanders ,wlio served overseas during the Great War, has had a long and varied military career. He entered th© Army fifty years ago. He was .Lord Dundonald's galloper at the relief of Ladysmith, and was one of the first officers to enter the beleaguered town. He was Lord Kitchener's military secretary during the later stages of the South. African War, and served him devotedly in the same capacity during the seven years of his tenureof the command in India. Afterwards,he was appointed to a brigade in Northwest Frontier, but in 1912 became ,Quartermaster-General in India, a post he soon exchanged for the office of Secretary to the Government of India in the Army Department. He has seen considerable frontier fightinn- and ie o r n Ved through the Tirah Campaign lof 1897-98. He was severely wounded'in South Africa, and'was many times mentioned in dispatches. During the Great War, Sir William Tvas commander <of the New Zealand and Australian troops in Gallipoli. He commanded the landing at Gaba Tepe and the evacuation when the Peninsula was left to the Turks. The end of the war found him commanding the Fifth Army on the Western. Front. He captured Lille, md afterwards made the passage of the Lys on the very last day of the war. There have been many good stories of Sir William, but one of the best tells how he went through a trench at Lone Pine and put a foot on a sleeping soldier's stomach. "The meeting must have left a big impression on you," said Sir William when he met the same man. years afterwards. "It did," said the. soldier. "You put your other foot o- my face." After the war Sir William received a baronetcy and a grant of £10,000. In 1920 he was appointed to the Northern Command in India, and in 1930 he became Commander-in-Chief in India. Lord Willingdon. Lord Willingdon, the Viceroy of India, who was mentioned in • the cables this week as having opened the huge Government hydro-electric works at Mandi, in the Punjab, has had a remarkable record of public service. He* has long been associated with India, and has had the rare, if not unique, distinction of having served two full terms as a Presidency Governor in that country. He was Governor of Bombay from 1913 until the close of the war and afterwards, held the Governorship of Madras. In both Presidencies he won the highest praise as a tactful, energetic, and firm administrator. Until his appointment as Viceroy of India in December, 1930, he was. Gov-ernor-General of Canada, an office which-he held for four years. From 1897 to 1900 Lord Willingdon (or Mr. Freeman Freeman-Thomas as he then was) served as • aide-de-camp to his father-in-law, the first Earl Brassey, when the latter was Governor of Victoria. In 1900 he was elected to Parliament as Liberal member for Hastings, and six years later he was returned for Bodmin, which he represented till 1910. In 1905 and 1906 he was a Junior Lord of the Treasury and Government Whip, and was Lord-in-Waiting to the King from 1911 to 1913. Lord Willingdon was appointed Governor of Bombay in 1913, and at the end of 1918 became Governor of Madras. The period spent by him. in India prior to his return as Viceroy has been described as "eleven years of perhaps the most difficult and critical time in the country's history." Throughout he brought tact, diplomacy, knowledge, and skill to bear on the various problems with which he had to deal, and he enjoyed to the full the confidence and affection of those with whom he worked. In 1924 Lord Willingdon was delegate for India at the Assembly of the League of Nations, and he presided over the delegation from the Boxer Indemnity Committee,,, which visited CMna two years ago. Sir Philip Sassoon. Sir Philip Sassoon, Under-Secretary for Air, who this week presented the Air Force Estimates iv the House of Commons, has for a long time been an aviation enthusiast. He has journeyed tens of thousands of miles by aeroplane in England, Scotland, India, France, Italy, Germany, the United States, and Canada. He therefore brought a considerable practical knowledge to his office when, in 1924, he was appointed Undersecretary of State ia the Air Ministry. Sir Philip once made a flying tour of India, and in the course of five weeks flew over 17,000 miles. On his return to England he published a book entitled "The Third Koute," giving a full description of his flight. Sir Philip was born in 1888, and was educated at Eton, Christ Church, and Oxford. During the war, from 1915 to 1918, he was private secretary to FieldMarshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British Armies in France. He was mentioned in dispatches several times, and is the holder of the French and Belgian Military Crosses. He is also an officer of the Order of the Black Star (France), Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and officer of 'the Order of the Crown (Belgium). Sir Philip's career in polities was mapped out for him while he was still at Eton, and on coining down from Oxford he at once entered the House of Commons aa M.P. for the Hythe Division of Kent. For several years he enjoyed the distinction of • being the youngest member of Parliament. His first Ministerial office was that of Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministry of Transport in 1919, and he also acted as Parliamentary Secretary to Mr. Lloyd George. Polities and the air do not, however^ absorb all his activities, for besides a full social life, he devotes considerable time to art, and is a trustee of the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the Tato Gallery, and tlie British School at Borne.

Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. First aid for'coughs, colds, influenza.—Advt.