ALLEN IS AUSTERE AND ALOOF

NZ Truth, Issue 1127, 7 July 1927, Page 6

ALLEN IS AUSTERE AND ALOOF

Tup year 1887 was remarkable for ;the number of able young Members of Parliament who made their initial bowt to Mr. Speaker. Sir James Allen was one of the entrants of 40 long years past. He has since boxed the .jhrtle Dolitical compass — not m the sense Hhat he has been anything but a )lved-in-the-wool Conservative— but that He has reached almost every cmiS«nra nossible for an aspiring politician. Now he passes into the calm conTerit of the Gilded Chamber. f ' ■ — " .■■" It would be- incongruous to imagine Allen other than a Tory of the old school. He is a graduate of Cambridge University 1 and exudes the culture and traditions of that ancient seat of learning. ; , , j* x V Until his retirement from the House he' represented the now defunct constituency of Bruce.* The canny electors of ithat-part of Otago had no qualms about their representative. They kept Allen: as their choice for a continuous neriod of some 30- years. ■ o . ■.-. • r' X / " He was one of the few survivors of the ; battered Conservative party from the wonderful Seddon victory of 1906. A few years later saw a period set to the long vigil of Allen and his party m tjje cold shades of Opposition. His long sojourn opposite the Treasury .benches probably developed his critical qualities,' particularly m the dizzy realms "of finance. He had a pene-. trat've flair for public accounts. . Ay carefully-prepared Budget was apt to wear a wry aspect after dissection by Allen. ;, \ ' . From the accession to power of ...|the party m 1912 he was the first lieutenant: of Massey. He probably ; 'little dreamed that as; Minister of Defence was to carry- a heavier' responsibility than any previous holder of the portfolio; To give him his due, he never spared, himself during Xhe war m " : seeing that the efforts of New Zealahid did r(ot flag. '•. .■■".■■'* . ■•'.-: '■•."■:. , He is an ardent Imperialist and sees nothing incompatible m being also , an out-and-out supporter of the' League of Nations. 1 holds" his-keen-attention;-he is a past charJcJellor of Otago University. V ' Allen is not exactly the ".hall -fellow typerjbf politician; rather might ho be set down as austere and- aloof. No pungent Wit nor airy grace is there m his. style of oratory. He is atove the 'ondinaryi ruck/ but ft is : his downright ruggedness and strength of purpose that hayp given him a niche «n the annals of politics. ' \ „■•. ].' ■