Lord Nuffield

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume 7, Issue 58, 23 November 1937, Page 2

Lord Nuffield

"*~ HIS FINE CHARACTER

The subject of other men's millions will always fascinate the student of human nature. When a rich man dies or by some action dominates the news for the day, wo search his record and study his character in a natural curiosity to discover his secret, and perhaps, by guch enquiries to find consolation for our own lack of wealth, said"Atticus," in the "Sunday Times," England, recently.

Barney Barnato left a business worth more than £20,000,000 by going over the side of a ship. The late Sir John Ellerman laboured for the Chancellor of the Exchequer like a parent for his helpless child. James White, admittedly a small figure among the financial giants, cut off the telephone, prepared the poison, and wrote in a firm hand: "I have fooled no one and no one has fooled me."

These tales could be multiplied like a miser's gold, but, fortunately, there are others who amass wealth and grow in vision with the increase of their fortune. Such a man is Lord Nuffield, nvhose gifts of millions of pounds have both splendour and imagination. In neither his personality nor his habits does Lord Nuffield supply that element of glamour so hungrily sought after these days. His sucess came from a centralised and simple idea. While others saw in motoring a new amusement for the rich, the youthful Morris yiiualised a car sold at a price that

would populate the roads with a new race of men. The scoffer might shrug his shoulders at a success built oil so simple an idea—but how many men have ideas, and, of their number, how many are capable of a fixed and simple one ?

Having secured his plan, the future Lord Nuffield brought to its execution a character at once sincere, purposeful and serious. His powers of exposition were not great, but his spirit was eloquent. And strangely enough, the man who could keep his mind rigidly upon the one central idea found it difficult to sustain a reasoned argument. His departures from the subject in hand were both unexpected and disconcerting. Yet as his factories grew, so his character took form. Young men found in him both sympathy and inspiration. He loved to see them succeed, and put many of them on the road to success. He also liked and sought the company of medical men, and ono knows now that his own first ambition was to be a doctor.

Such is the story of Lord Nuffelcl, who helped enormously in bringing people to their inheritance of the roads, who built at once an industry and his own character, while his great gifts for healing and science have dignified the possession of wealth.