GUARDING THE GREAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20324, 3 August 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

GUARDING THE GREAT.

SPECIAL POLICE DUTY.

THRILLS AND ASSASSINS.

BIRKENHEAD'S COURAGE-

E^-OFFICER'S REMINISCENCES.

It has been announced that members cf thje new Labour Ministry in Britain will, dispense with tho official police'grtard which lias been attached to Ministers of tho Crown sjnen 1912, when the suffrapetto' agitation was at its height, says ex-Inspector Harold Brust, lato of Soot land Yard, writing m Answers. I, who know most ot the new Ministers, am not surprised, because they are men who <lislike fus* and ostentatious precaution against dangers they leel do not exist.

If I wero asked the question, is there luiv justification for attaching ono or two detectives, armed with automatic pistols, to the persons'of Ministers in England and ■when they travel abroad, I should say that, in this country, so far as actual danger is concerned, tho answer is cmpbatjically in the negative. Abroad, perhaps/ it miaht still bo advisable to havo r. British detective to collaborate with tho police of the country in which the Minister happens to be. Tho chief reason why Ministers aro tafo in England, and immune from tho jittacks of foreign revolutionaries and malcontents, is that the British tradition makes this country stand very high in tho opinion of even anarchists. In my many years of experience 1 have found, excepting during tho suffragette menace nnd the wai days, in which I include tho Irish troubles, that tho only real tronblo i'or a security officer in this country Li to keep back importunate people, people with grievances—and admirers! ' Wrong Train Blown Up. In the war days, nowever, there, was real danger. In 1917 I accompanied Mr Btrffour, as ho then was, to Washington, on his famous mission, which practically resulted in bringing America into tho War. Although reports of tho activities of German-Americans wero so menacing that Mr. Balfour's house at Washington was 7 '' guarded by a brigade of soldiers camped in the grounds, the great states man presor\ed, an almost contemptuous philosophic calm Nothing annoyed him • —Except the life-belt drill on the boat, v-hich he found an intolerable nuisance. Mr. Balfour was a difficult Minister to guard because ho never would keep to fi time-table. Ho turned tho hair of the American police chief white with worry. Schedules, covering long-distance journeys, would be arranged to the minute, and' Mr. Balfour would serenely turn up Lalf-an-hour late His unhurried manner saved his life, on ono occasion. _ We ■were retnrriing by way of Canada in the Presidential tra-in, which had been put at bis disposal by President Wilson. We came to a lako which Mr. Balfour had heard about, and ho decided to havo tho train stopped and dr a bit of fishing. The officials aboard nearly wept —arrangements had been made for tho wholo journey and all lines were cleared, but Britain's Minister was adam.m' and had to bo obeyed. Fie had been fishing for an hour when tho station-master, with a congestion of trains behind him, decided to rcleaso a freight train and let it run Forty miles ahead of the Balfour special, there to be shunted again Two miles along the track it was blown sky-high, and tho conductors, driver, and fireman ki'led. That mine had been arranged for Mr. Balfour. ' Coolness In Face oi Death. Of, all the Ministers 1 hnvft guarded, I should say that Lord Birkenhoad was Hie most utterly fearless. In Dublin, at wds a time when an Englishman's life was not wnrtn a moment's purchase, &. man came to rr.o in the hotel, whispered that ho was a friend, told me he knew who I wns and who I was guarding, and begged me to get Lord Birkenhead away immediately. The " Brotherhood," the Sinn Feir terrorists, he said, had sentenced Lord Birkenhead to death, and the '/sentence would be carried out the following morning in Phoenix Park when he went to the Viceregal Lodge. I warned the Minister and begged him to alter his plans Not ho! Next morning, wnth armed cars before and behind, ■v/tt/ dashed to the Viceregal Lodge. Outs:dn, castle detectives pointed oul to mo known Sinn F'einer3 lounging about Tho Joungers increased many of them keeping their hand? inside bulging pockets. Lord B'rkenhead camo out. and then gavo me the shock of my life. " Brust, we will, walk across the park ! " In rain did I remonstrate; in vain did the castle chief of police add his en tri-.-ties. Lord Birkenhead set off. I fol lowed. So d:d the loungers. He came to .t/he memorial place where F/>rd Frederick Cavendish and Mr Burke were gbst by Feniarj, and calmly read the inscription . The gunmen gathered closer. Off azam and out of the park, the

gunmen sti.'l at his heels. Lord Birkenhead en tared n bookshop and bougfit two cid second hand Looks. Still the gun- • am en were round as It teemed to mo ib<>7 were hesitating bnt I never expected to get borne. At the hotel entrance four men rushed up Lord Birkenhead turned, I grabbed rr.y gun, bat the one ■who was evidently in command stepped forward and put hii hand out. "We can't shoot a brave man down in cold blood!" he said. "We're both patriots!" .And Minister and gunman shook hands. U Experienca With Saflragette3. I could go on repeating stories of the Tvar days, wJ pn Ministers seemed to bear cliarmcd lives, but I will give one or two iHnstrations of smaller nuisances in less Serious days.

I rcmembor one day whan a gang of enfTrngettes holrl np tho Primo Minister, Mr. Asrjnith. as ho then was. I had made emetgcncy arrangements, and had u number of police on the spot in two rnuiutos. The leaders wero arrested, bat Iho sympathisers of the Huffragettos brought up reinforcements, the polico worn ..surrounded, and ( had a dozen Amazons round mo They told me they would strip mo if .1 did not releaso their lpaders. They K ot "iy jacket and waistcoat off; next tlo, and shirt; then, to tho groat . dd/glit of Mr Asquith, I capitulated I rtc/irl cntn 1 ]y, I may say that the life of a security olFicei depends very much on iho Minister to whom no ii attached. 1 was almost always fortunate in that i export. Some Ministers—and their wives aro so much more considerato than 'I"* 1, * havo often sat on tho front '<!.U car soal'.od to tho skin after driving •"' if a Minister for hours. Then, I hnu, wait of an hour before I f .'1)1 i 0 rtl y OWJ| r| lmr tp r3 _ " n such tiling as perof!,i r.r to suffer the effects of ! ■*>'•:» l?<\y Oxford had anyv:i,h j b ro « R ht r/IJZ n "Ti l " Cour '»ey, 7 h! \, >"«> Hi.', ball. nr,A n r()fclt y(j(J . r(| |ike a ' r "" 1 v -" x a hot ll!" 'T\ < T for i 4i i ,U door, would .•«" " whiU rny r w 1 T1 f " 11 <*<y- And .( '/b r v * 4 u,] -*»b# P . Mfodwicit C«t by Udy Oxford hereof.

A security officer is allowed expenses, but his bills arc nearly always paid by the Minister lie guards or his private secretary. All Ministers are not alike in that, however. One of the ox-Ministers was motoring through a town recently. Tho loca' hotel . had just a commercial room with two tallica in it, nnri tho only faro was a set " ordinary" at half-a-crown. The Minister and his wifo and secretary sat at one tnbln: the detoctivc and two maids at tho other.

"I will pay for the party at this table and the two maids nt that one," said tho Minister after lunch. " Tho detei> tivo will pay for his own ! " Anothoi Minister 1 have guarded was Mr. Bonat Ln\. who once caused a diver sion in Paris bevftuso a valet had thrown an old tio away and bought him a new ono. The very dustbins wore searched, and Mr. Law was quito delighted when ho retrieved Ins ragged old favourito. I have guarded King George, Sir Austen Chamberlain, Mr. Lan Mucpherson, Kir Ha mar Greenwood, and M Venizclos, who confeired upon mo the Order of tho Holy Kedeemor. Tho Greek statesman, when in London, spent every morning in the park, giving away sixpences to poor children.

Homo Ministers aro easier to get on with than others, and looking back 1 should say that tho most genial in my experience was Mr. Asquith. Taking tho good with the bad. the life of a security officer is not by any mentis a bad one, and I should say that many of my old colleagues at tho Special Branch will regret tho decision of tho Labour Ministers.