In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1938, Page 21

In the Public Eye

M. Paul-Boncour, leader of the Socialist Republicans,l whose support aided M. Chautemps to form a new Government in France, was-born at St. Aignan in 1873. , After a brilliant university career, he became a lawyer, and was still active in the trial of cases at the'time of his appointment as Minister of .War in the Herriot Cabinet in 1932. His active political career began in- 1906 when he was elected, to the Chamber of Deputies from his native district of Loire ct Cher, as an Independent Socialist. Before that time he had become known as one deeply interested in social and labour problems, and in 1900 he published a book advocating trade unionism. In 1911 he was appointed, in line with his special interest, Minister of Labour,' in the Monis-Bertaux Cabinet. This was his first Cabinet post. He commanded a battalion during the war, and received the ; Legion of Honour. After the 1919 elections he joined the Socialist Party, and he remained a member of it until 1931. His resignation from the Socialist Party was widely commented on at the time. There can be no doubt that if .he had. not'joined the Socialists in 1919 he would have reached the top quickly, and the Socialists fully admit that he was completely disinterested when he joined them. Even so, M. Paul-Boncour never quite felt at ease with the Socialists, and at times found it .difficult to observe their strict party discipline. After M. Briand's death he was appointed permanent delegate to the League of Nations, with which he had been closely associated, especi ally since 1924. In December, 1925, he presided over a Committee appointed to report to the Council on the agenda for the Disarmament Conference. The role which he played in the League, where he and M. tic Jouvenel framed the Protocol in 1924, made him the object of attacks from many Socialists, who reproached him With having been at Geneva tr.e official delegate 'of ■ a bourgeois Government, 'and who tried to force on him the choice between this role and membership of the Socialist Party. following the withdrawal of the Socialist support from the Foincare Ministry in 1928, ,M. Paul-Boncour resigned his appointment as delegate to the League. This made more work for the League, as the French publicist had held • all the threads of the .disarmament proposals in his hands for years, and had been the chief exponent of the French thesis of disarmament as Lord Cecil had been the British. In 1932-36 he returned to Geneva as permanent delegate. For a short time he was Premier and Foreign Minister in 1932-1933, M. Paul-Boncour is admitted to be one of tlje greatest orators in France, and holds a leading place at the Bar

Mrs. James Cromwell,

Doris Duke, the world's richest girl, sat in' her palatial New York mansion recently reflecting on the embarrassment of riches while her husband, Mr. James Cromwell,- author and economist, discussed with a "Daily Mail" representative the manner in which she. proposed to, dispose of. her latest ■birthday gift of £2,000,000.

This gift, the second instalment of a trust fund established by her father, the late J. B. Duke, president of the American Tobacco Company, had been paid to her "n her twenty-fifth birthday.

. "It's a lot of money," admitted t her 40-year-old husband, himself a, millionaire, "but what Doris is going to do,with it is frankly nobody's business.

"It .will be used to bring a greater measure of comfort, security, and decency into the lives of those people who are less fortunate than ourselves."

Mr. Cromwell pointed out that- the original legacy of 53,000,000 dollars left by his-father-in-law shrank considerably during the world depression, and, whereas- it might have been in the neighbourhood of £10,000,000 or even £12,000,000, today it was worth only of which Mrs. Cromwell had received two-thirds.

He said that he could not divulge how'the money would be spent.

"My wife'prefers not to be pinned down to any plan. She has enough to think about as it is without going into detail," he' said.

"Wealthy people now know of a way to dispose of money, .and they prefer to 'do it quietly and without fuss.

1 /'Perhaps she is a little young, to know exactly what to do with the money, but she will have expert advice at her disposal and Will herself nominate , the charities to' which she wishes to give. ; ..' ■

"Of course, she's been inundated with begging and even threatening ■ letters, but she is always, getting them. We just don't take any notice—at least of the threats."

M. Octavian Goga,

Two years ago the new Premier of Rumania (Octavian Goga) went to Berlin, communicated with Nazi leaders, and returning to Bucharest, declared that the iNazis were not supporting Hungary's claims against Rumania, and that a close. Rumanian alliance with Germany was necessary.

. M. Goga was born a Hungarian subject. He leads a party of 35 in a House of 387, while the party headed by the retiring Premier (M. Tatarescu) has at least 154. M. Goga's party is Germanophile, anti-Semite,: anti-French, . and antiSoviet It has its own blue-shirted storm troops, who wear swastikas. Professftr Cuza, M. Goga's lieutenant

and Minister without portfolio, wore

the swastika before Hitler was born, i He founded anti-Semitism in Rumania, and his son, George Cuza, also a lead-

ing anti-Semite, is Labour Minister,

; General Antonescu, one of the ablest .. Rumanian soldiers, who was. formerly deputy chief of the German staff, is , Defence. Minister, while Estrate Mic,escu;.(doyen of the Bucharest Bar and a • noted anti-Semite,, is- Foreign Minister,

" Sir Ernest Eiddle, whose resigna- ' Won from the post of Governor of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was announced this week, has long been connected with that institution. ' He was born ii> .1873 and was the son of John Eiddle, a pastoralist. His boyhood was spent on his father's station, Gundamaine, at Narrabri, and he received'his schooling at Narrabri. In 1889 he began his banking career, joining the staff of the Bank of Australasia, with which he remained until the second year of the war. In 1915 he went on to the" staff of the Commonwealth Bank to become manager at Perth; There he stayed until 1923 when he began a rapid rise which ' made him governor within a few years. In 1923 he came to Sydney as acting manager. The following year he w,as made Chief Inspector and stationed at Sydney permanently. Later in. the year he went to Melbourne as manager there. In 1925 he became Deputy-Governor and had filled this post for only two years when the governorship fell vacant and he was appointed to it in June, 1927. He married, in 1899, Miss Anne Bibby, of, Manchester, England, and has one son and, one daughter.

Sir Josiah Stamp. At: a-recent London .function there was a racy speech by Sir Josiah Stamp in that impetuous, hesitant, yet confident, voice of his. ,".'Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you.: are,'" he quoted. "By' tonight's menu we must all be bloomin' comedians." "He reminded,his listeners of the importance of food and .of a story of father and the family on the cliffs— "Ethel,'; tell your father not to stand too near the edge or you'll miss- your sandwiches." He also reminded them that their food came from the ends of the earth, and of the scientific nature of modern transport. "Do you' get me?" said i Sir Josiah quickiy. - In his youth, he went on,-breath-lessly, he had experimented. He ! found that pickled onions and condensed milk' together were pretty good. If the end of a sausage roll were bitten off; ■, and the space filled with strawberry ;jam that, too, was good.

As they grew older, however, they all grew finicky. Lastly Sir Josiah told the story of Herr Hitler, and General Goering motoring in the country that had been whispered round for a month or more. The car ran over a pig and Hitler ordered Goering to report the accident to the farmer. The latter eventually returned to the car his arms laden with vegetables. Hitler demanded an explanation. Goering replied: "I went to the farmer and shouted 'Heil Hitler! The pig is - dead!' and he gave me these at once."

Count Taaffe.

Count TaafTe, who has been mentioned as likely to become the first President of the Irish Free State under the new Constitution, recently arrived in London with Countess Taaffe. He would not comment, however, on the report that he might be elected President.

He will apply immediately for citizenship of the Irish Free State, and will resign from the Czechoslovakian army. He said that at present he was not considering petitioning the British Government'for restoration of the peerage of which his father was deprived during the war.

Count Taafe is the only son.of Viscount Taaffe, .of Corren, who was a member of an ancient family which' left Ireland and had lived in Bohemia for the past 200 years. . The Viscount was deprived of his peerage by ths British Government in 1917 for fighting against the Allies.

His son, Count TaafjEe, is 39 years of age, and had been living.near Prague until recently, when he sold his castle and estate. He has been an officer in the Czechoslovakian army since the Great War, in which he fought against Russia, Kumania, and Italy, and will now from the reserve. When he; becomes an Irish citizen he will seek 'release from citizenship of Czechoslovakia. : '

. He says: "My family have always regarded themselves as Irish, and I have always.felt Irish." '

The Count in 1931 married Miss Grace MacLaughlin, a grand-daughter of the late Lord Justice Meredith, who was Master of the Bolls in Ireland from 1906 to 1912.

The Count has: been going to Ireland yearly for a number of years. He and the Countess are going to reside for the present in Dublin with the Countess's, father, who is eighty years of age..

Major-General A. F. Brooke,

The command of the first' mechanised mobile division has been given to one of the younger major-generals who for some time has been Director of Miiltary Training at the War Office. At the age of. 54 Major-General A. F. Brooke, who won the D.S.O. and bar during the Great War, has served successively as General Staff Officer in the Northern Command, at ■ the Staff College, Camberley, as Commandant of the School of Artillery, and in command of the Bth Infantry Brigade.

In his recent posts, according to the "Manchester '■ Guardian," he has had considerable experience in the requirements for the mechanisation that has been carried on in the Ist Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot and the 2nd Brigade at Tidworth. These brigades will form part of the Mobile Division, which also includes a tank brigade and a proportion of mechanised artillery, engineers, signals, and infantry units. The actual organisation is still,a matter for experiment. One cavalry regiment in each of the cavalry brigades is being converted into a light tank regiment.

The creation of the division has been made possible by the increased deliveries of the necessary equipment, and in the choice of a commander the War Office is to be congratulated on choosing a comparatively young officer to carry out the advanced experiments that must still be made. ' '