MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD. AND POHANGINA GAZETTE. MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1901. TO CURTAIL RED-TAPE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 6917, 28 January 1901, Page 2

MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD. AND POHANGINA GAZETTE.

MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1901. TO CURTAIL RED-TAPE.

GUAR NTEED.LARGEST CIRCULATION H THE DISTRICT.

We were informed by cable that the Secretary of State, for War had appointed a Committee, to consider the present arrangements' for tho transaction of business within the War Office, the system of contract and audit, and the possibility of further decentralisation of work, with a view-to the more expeditious and effective discharge of the duties of the various departments. Referring to the personnel of the Committee, the London Daily Mail says :— Mr Clinton Edward Dawkins, who, to the surprise of. very many, lately renounced the post of Finance Minister of India to become a partner in the London house of J. S. Morgan and Co., is still a ■ comparatively young man, having been born in 1859. He may be said to have graduated in the same school as Sir Alfred Milner. Like the Governor of the Cape, Mr Dawkins's first entry into the world of politics was as private secretary to Mr Goschen. In 1895, when Sir Alfred left Egypt, Mr Dawkins succeeded him there also as UnderSecretary for Finance. Those competent to' judge bear witness to the thorough knowledge, of the necessary fellaheen which .he managed to acquire within a very short space of time. His very decided financial ability procured him the appointment on the Council of tho Governor-General of India in 1899, and a few months later, when still a total stranger to Mr Pierpont Morgan, received from that gentleman an altogether unexpected invitation to quit the public ways of administration for the City. His appointment is an excellent one, since he_ has had a thorough training in administration, and has introduced order wherever his influence has been brought to bear. Colonel Sir George. Clarke, the Superintendent of the Royal Carriage Department at Woolwich, is an officer of the most distinguished- scientific attainments. He designed the special brake and spade which has been fitted to all our field guns for use in the present war, and which in service has given excellent results., Thanks to this invention a much higher rate of fire could be got out of the guns. He is a zealous advocate of Army reform, and has written much of on the subject in the reviews. No one has taken a deeper interest in all questions of national defence, and he is one of the few soldiers who have made a thorough study.of the Navy. He has already served von'fc similar board of inquiry, since he acted as secretary to the Hartington Commission, dealing with military and naval administration. He was also secretary to the very important committee which inquired into our colonial defences. He has been sent on various important missions all ofer tfc»

»- ■—■———■ world, but yet has managed to Bee active service He was in the Egyptian war of 1882 and in the Sudan campaign of 1885. He is a distinctly good appoint, ment, as he is a man who is quite free from official red-tape, a vigorous personality, and not .sparing to the incompetent. He is fifty-two years of age. Sir Charles Wolby, who sits in the present Parliament for Newark, is an Eton and Christehurch man. He has been closely connected with the -War Office in its worst days, as he was private secretary to' Mr Stanhope, who was responsible for the cutting down of the artillery, a most disastrous measure from 1887 to 1892, and to Lord Eansdowne from 1895 to 1900. Of course, a private secretary to a minister has little or no influence in shaping policy, but he may become imbued with bad traditions, and his appointment on the present committee is not altogether satisfactory to those who would see vigorous reforms inaugurated. It has always been understood that he a defender of the present system. His age is thirty-five. He served from 1886 to 1888 as a lieutenant in the 2rd (Militia) Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment. Ho owns about 16,000 acres of land in Lincolnshire, for which country he is a magistrate and deputy-lieut. He was made a C.B. in 1897f0r " services in connection with the War Department." Mr Ernest William Beckett, M.P. for the Whitby division of Yorkshire, is a partner in a well-known firm of Leeds bankers; and his financial abilities wiU be of decided use on the committee He has shown himself a man who takes public questions seriously. Mr Beckett is fortyfour years old. Mr George Stegmann Gibb, general manager of the NorthEastern Railway, is very much of north countrymen, inasmuch as he was born In Aberdeen about fifty year ago. He began life as clerk in a ship owners' office whence he passed into a solicitor's firm in 1872 That was his first entry into the railway world, where he has since made his mark. For five years later he became an assistant in the Great Western Railway solicitor's office, and in 1882 he obtained full control of the legal affairs of the railway company, which he now serves as general manager. In common with several [of his colleagues, Mr Gibb will bring high business capacities to the deliberation of the committee; he is a great organiser and a most capable man of affairs. Mr William Mather, who sits for the Rossendale division of Lancashire, faithful so long to LordHartington, is a radical of pronounced opinions. He is, moreover, chief of the Salford Ironworks; in other words, a practical engineer of great ability and a shrewd Laneasnire business man into the bargain. Mr Mather's Parliamentary experiences are not slight. Before he obtained his present seat he sat for South Salford 1885-6, and later on for the Gordon division of South-East Lancashire. He is very popular at Salford, where Messrs Mather and Piatt have their works.