MR. JOHN BUCHAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22071, 29 March 1935, Page 11

MR. JOHN BUCHAN

GOVERNOR-GENERALSHIP APPOINTMENT TO CANADA British Wireless RUGBY, March 27 The King has approved the appointment of Mr. John Buchan as Gov-ernor-General of Canada in succession to ithe Earl of Bessborough, whose term of office will expire shortly. Mr. Buchan, who is an accomplished man of letters, is the first member of the House of Commons to be appointed Governor-General of Canada.

Mr. John Buchan, scholar, author, war correspondent, politician and publisher, was horn in Scotland in August, 1875, and educated at Glasgow University and Brasenose College, Oxford, of which he was a , scholar, taking the Newdigate and Stanhope Historical Essay Prizes. In 1899 he was president of the union. He had already hegun writing, having published in 1896 " Scholar-Gipsifes " and in 1898 " John Burnet of Barns " and a " History of Brasenose College." In the next two years he produced "Grey Weather," " A Lost Lady of Old Years " and " The Half-Hearted." In the meanwhile Mr. Buchan had been reading law and was (Sailed to the Bar in 1901. Soon afterward he was appointed private secretary to Lord Milner, who had just been made High Commissioner in South Africa. Even then books flowed from his pen, notably " The African Colony." Returning to England in 1903, he became a member of the publishing firm of Nelsons and devoted much of his time to writing, turning out a number of romances, some of them based on his South African days. These in the opinion of many critics placed him near the plane of It. L. Stevenson. At the same time he proved in his " Sir Walter Raleigh " and " The Marquis of Montrose " that he was a painstaking historian. .

'lt was, however, in the Great War that Mf. Buchan's gift for the lucid recording of facts was best shown. Atthe outset he wtent to France as a special correspondent, but was soon appointed to British Headquarters with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1917 ho was transferred to England to take the onerous post of Director of Information, but meanwhile' he was preparing & detailed history of the war, and also records of various phases of it, which appeared after the end of the conflict. Also he has shown tho scholar's sense of historical values in memoirs of eminent persons, and no has written scenarios for British historical films. In April, 1927, Mr. Buchan was elected Conservative M.P. for the Scottish Universities. He is an hon. Llj.Jj. of Glasgow University. Among his novels, some of which display much humour, are "Prester John. ree ", mantle," "Salute to Adventures, "The Thirty-nine Steps, ■Huntingtower," "The Path of the King, " Midwinter," "The Dancing Floor, "Witchwood." "The Watcher by the Threshold," "The Moon Enduretli and "The Three Hostages. Later works include Cromwell, "Tho Free Fishers," "Gordon at Khartoum," "A Prince of the Captivity "The Massacre ot Glencoe and Lhe Magic Walking-Stick." He was made a Companion of Honour in 1932.