READERS OF FICTION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 2, 2 December 1931, Page 9

READERS OF FICTION.

STATESMEN AND FINANCIERS. Why is it that statesmen and financiers—according to Canon Hannay (George Birmingham, the novelist) — are among the greatest readers of detective fiction? Perhaps because after concentrating upon complicated problems some relaxation is imperative, and the man who spends a stirring half an hour trying to discover who really did murder Sir Jasper goes back all the fresher to his work (says a writer in an English journal). Mr Baldwin has confessed his fondness for detective stories, and Mr Lloyd George also likes them. The Prime Minister, on the other hand, sometimes flies north with a volume of Hazlitt, and tranquilly reads these essays of a more leisurely day while travelling through space at IUO miles an hour or more. But in his study at Lossiemouth, Mr MacDonqld lias a much wider range of reading, and in addition to many works of fiction there are a number of books of poetry, Burns occupying a prominent place on the shelves.

“I received a letter from a Prime Minister of England, now no longer alive,” Canon Hannay added, ‘‘in which he asked mo for a list of the best detective novels of the time, because ho found that after his labours in the Cabinet, he could read nothing elso.” Who could the mystery-loving Premier have been? Since 1868 our Prime Ministers have been Disraeli, Gladstone, the Marquess of Salisbury, the Earl of Rosebery, A. J. Balfour, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, H. H. Asquith, Lloyd George. Bonar Law, Baldwin, and MacDonald. Disraeli was a great reader of novels, and an accompolished writer of them too, but Canon Hannay’s correspondent must be a more recent statesman. Philosophical studies occupied much of Mr Balfours’ spare time, but even this academic minded man had a great admiration for Mr G. K. Chesterton, who has written some admirable detective tales.

The Earl of Oxford and Asquith may almost certainly be ruled out, for although a great reader his taste was classical for the most part with a strong liking for modern poetry—on which he was an acknowledged authority. A more likely man is Mr Bonar Law who was not of an exclusively “highbrow” temperament, although a close student of such writers as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Cobden, Macaulay and the classics.

Mr Gladstone, Lord Salisbury and Lord Rosebery are perhaps less likely to have boon interested in detectivo tales than Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-man.

Mr Baldwin’s love of literature is as well-known as his love of the countryside. He brought recognition to the works of Mary Webb. He is a great reader of the classics and modern novels and detective novels.

It has been decided to establish shortly a comprehensive liberary at No. 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister, and volumes for the entertainment as well as the enlightenment of the Premier will soon be on the shelves. At No. 11, Downing Street, the house of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, there is a library of many books on political economics and other matters as well as some fiction, poetry and biography.