A GREAT NEW ZEALANDER.

Evening Star, Issue 22234, 11 January 1936, Page 12

A GREAT NEW ZEALANDER.

A strong case might be made for the argument that New Zealanders do not know their' great men. They know those. who excel in football and flying; their names become household words; but achievements vthat may be more permanent but have less of a sporting character too often go disregarded. At the time of his death, seven years ago, we recalled the distinguished career of Dr Harold' Williams, the son of a New Zealand minister (still living in Christchurch) who was better known abroad than in his own country. A biography of him whiclx has just been written by his widow, a Russian by birth, under the title of ‘ Cheerful Giver,’ makes more clear his claim to remembrance. Williams rose to pre-eminent rank first as a special correspondent for several British newspapers, and then as Director of the Foreign Department of the. London ‘ Times,’ a post which he occupied for six years. All his life he was a wanderer and an idealist. When, an ardent but poor student, he left this country for Europe, it was to Tolstoy that his eyes turned. He was disappointed at his later meeting with the sage and seer, whose life seemed to hini to be lived too aloof from the day-to-day struggle. Williams gave his heart to the liberation of Russia', and for 20 years worked for that cause. The years, it has been said, were “ in turn dangerous and exciting (as when he lived through such events as Red Sunday and the Moscow vising), exhilarating (as when the , Duma came into being and when the nation rallied to the Tsar in(1914), chastening (as when Bolshevism cast its shadow over the land and the White Army went down before the Red masses).” As a linguist Williams was one of the most remarkable men of his age. His achievements in this respect, it is recorded, can only be compared to those of some musical infant prodigy. Even his best friends never understood how it came about that’he was able to address a gathering of journalists at

lleva] in almost faultless Estonian, to act as interpreter for stranded Papuan acrobats in Petrograd, or to take down messages for wounded Magyar prisoners in a Russian field hospital. He was familiar with probably fifty tongues, and was still learning others when his untimely death came, to him. ‘The Times ’ recalls as “ creative ” years the period during which he presided over its foreign department. He played a memorable, if unobtrusive, part in the difficult diplomacy of post-war Europe. The preface to his widow’s memorial is written by no less a personage than Sir Samuel Hoare, who calls it the biography of a man “ as good as he was' accomplished and as sensitive as he was honest.” ‘ The Times Literary Supplement,’ in its review of the book, elaborates this tribute when it says: “ Throughout his crowded and often hard and hazardous days, Harold Williams remained untouched by the ‘ contagion of the world’s slow stain.’ In him a generosity which conceded merit in others was joined with a humility which concealed merit in himself. This outstanding quality Mr Maurice Baring expressed with rare beauty of phrase in a noble tribute he paid to his memory;—

Upon the bread and salt of Russia fed, His heart with her high sorrow soared

and bled, He kept the bitter bread and gave away The shining salt to all who came his way.” Hence the book’s title of ‘ Cheerful Giver.’.