POPULAR GOVERNOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22004, 10 January 1935, Page 9

POPULAR GOVERNOR

END OF EVENTFUL TERM DEPARTURE NEXT WEEK [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, Jan. 3 There is a genuine feeling of regret among the people of New South Wales that the term'of office a.s Governor of Sir Philip Game is shortly ending. He will leave on January 15. Few Governors and their wives have been so popular as Sir Philip and Lady Game, despite a feeling of resentment against him among the "die-hard Tories" when he allowed what they thought was too much rope to Mr. Lang when the latter, as Premier, was swamping the Legislative Council with -nominees in order to push through extremist legislation. As a fact,' the political crisis at that time —from April to May, 1932 —was probably the worst faced by any New South Wales Governor, and calm reflection in the intervening years has led to the current universal Opinion that every step then taken by Sir Philip Game was correct. Sir Philip Game's five-year term does not end until next May, but it has been shortened at his own request, as he is anxious to return to England j for family reasons. He has not made any plans for the immediate future. He will settle again in his home in Somerset, and will take a long rest after his strenuous time in Australia, Part of Salary Returned When economic conditions necessitated reductions in the salaries of public servants, tho Governor's allowance was exempted, but Sir Philip immediately wrote to the Premier expressing a desire that he should be allowed to share in the reductions. Ever since, he has returned to the Treasury each month '

£IOO of his allowance. Sir Philip accepted the invitation of the unemployed at Broken.Hill in 1933 to travel to that town to receive a deputation. Although a few persons took advantage of his visit to launch attacks on him, Sir Philip Game's action was generally approved. Each year he has marched among the British troops in the Anzac Day parades. Sir Philip Game arrived in Sydney in May, 1930, when the economic depression was making itself felt. At the end of that year he found himself in conflict with Mr. Lang on constitutional matters. Mr. Lang was seeking to abolish the Upper House, and he requested the Governor to agree to the appointment of between 40 and 50 Labour nominees to the Chamber. The Governor replied that no proof had been furnished that the appointment of such a large number of members was necessary, since no Government measure had been rejected by the Upper House. In- March, 1931, Mr. Lang again asked for additional appointments on the grounds that the Government had lost control of Parliament. In again refusing to accede to the request, the Governor pointed out that Mr. Lang had not his case, since no policy measure hftd been rejected or vitally amended. Dismissal oi Mr. Lang On another occasion the Governor told a meeting of the Cabinet that he would not concede that he was bound to accept on all occasions Ministerial advice whether right or wrong. However, Sir Philip Game granted Mr. Lang's request for 25 appointments to the Upper House in November, 1931. This gave the Government a majority of seven in the Upper House. During the crisis in 1932, when the Lang Government refused to meet its financial obligations, tho Federal Government passed enforcement legislation to recover from the State interest paid on its behalf by the Commonwealth. The Lang Government issued a confidential circular to its heads of State departments instructing them not to pay money into the Commonwealth Bank in compliance with the Federal law. The Governor requested Mr. Lang to withdraw the circular, holding it to be illegal, but he refused.. On May 13, 1932, the Governor dismissed the Government, and at the general election in the following month his action received the overwhelming endorsement of the electors.