SIR PHILIP GAME

Hokitika Guardian, 5 December 1932, Page 8

SIR PHILIP GAME

’ A WRITER’S CRITICISM

OF OFFICIAL HEALINGS

. LONDON, November 10. Criticism, of the Governor of New South Wares (Sir Philip Game) and hit taste in conversation regarding his offi-wu-h thJ then ' Premier (jrr Lang) s is made in “Fore and Aft” an aecou.it of her travels by Lady A ngela- St (rlaire-Erskine.

The publishers, J ..noUs (.-have suspended the, pubV‘catiQn, . but the raanDany Mail” to-da\ that the suspension \yas—only temporary, as it was “desired to make an alteration of some things, which art really very trivial, but appear immense, ly important to some people.” laiuv Angela St Claire-lSiskine sdu she dined with Sir Philip Game at Government House, where the dinner lacked dignity, men wore dinner jackets, Gocial precedence was not ohscrveu, and formalities “were so mis managed by an- inefficient A.D.C.,’ that' she shook hands with Lady Game \thinking she was a lady-in-wa.ting. She commented upon having to play “boring bridge at two pence a hundred.” -

Sir Philip, she said, had referred t< the de Groot (ribbon-cuttim) imidenl as silly, and that it defeated the end? of the New Guard, which had been tc force him to dismiss Mr Lang. “Now T shall not,” she alleged S’n Philip said.

In rcpiy to a’question regarding ■pressure from Downing Street, Lady »t Tiaire-Eiskne said Sir Philip had indignantly repudiated getting orders from England. “He declared he had many ways o’ dismissing the Premier, and more power than Mr Lang,” ishc- added. Discussing politics, he said', “Thank God the Conservatives are not in power.’

PEOPLE AND POLITICS. “]f he talks like that to everyone it is not suvp.suig that he is called Reu Game. Nevertheless, the accusation is 'founded on flimsy grounds. “I was surprised to find that intimate political details, restricted to inspired circles in England, were discussed by every class in Australia. .

“The manicurist was as well informed as t..e misguided people who rushed to erase their ntmes from the Government House visitor’s book. 1 i regard the action as silly an insult to his Majesty.”

Lady Angela published Sir Philip Game’s letter to Mr Lang asking him to endorse Mr Bavin’s 'recomiuenda tions for knighthood for Mr Ball (• Bavin Minister), Dr Cecil Purser (an eminent physcian), and Mr Trethowan, M.L.C.

She added that the letters indicated Sir Philip’s “mixture of weakness and obstinacy, vacillation and conciliation to a point of servility.” ”■ The “Daily Mail” ' recalled to-day that Lady St Claire-Erskin, who is fift-ysix, had been’ known' tb the public for iriany years as.L'ady Angela Forbes. She was the daughter of the fourth Earl of Rosslyn, sister of the present Earl, and aunt of the Duke of Sutherland. She -manied Lieutenant-Colonel' James Stewart Fortrs in 1896 and divorced him in 1906. In 1930 she changed her name ' to Lady ClaireErgkineV She conducted a 'dressmaking establishment in the West End fur some years after the war as Lady Angela Forbes.

WOMEN INDIGNANT. SYDNEY, November 12. Sir Philip Game, commenting on the extracts from “Fore and Aft,” said: “Lady Etskine is entirely ’wfong. The bridge was not for twopence a hundred, but threepence.” ! Sydney women to-day condemned the criticism and description. Lady Julius said: “It is typical 0 f people who' visit this country for a few days only, during which time they could not possibly acquire an accurate picture of our conditions.”