PEOPLE I HAVE MET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22257, 9 May 1934, Page 8

PEOPLE I HAVE MET

PERSONALITIES AT GENEVA Written for the Otago Daily Times. By Sib Thomas Wilford. Though some of the people that I write about may be unknown to New Zealanders, I feel sure that my readers will be interested in an article on some of " those who matter" at Geneva, and when I say those who matter, I am eliminating members of the British delegation and taking you among those of the foreign delegation who have made their mark in the League of Nations. Take no notice of the order in which I mention the various notabilities, for I am writing as their names come into ,my mind, rather than with the idea of placing them in order of precedence. The first notability I shall mention will be his Excellency le Comte Albert Apponyi. Laßt year everyone was sad when he died suddenly. He was a remarkable man, a Magyar, an aristocrat to his finger-tips, and about 86 .years of age. He had represented one constituency in the Hungarian Parliament for 50 years without a break, and his length of service in the Parliament of Hungary was something like 63 years. He was courtly, kindly, genial, and loved by everyone. He should have been President of the League of Nations, but was beaten by one vote. The Comtesse Apponyi, accompanied her husband'on his journeys to Geneva to represent his country with General Tanczos. . Mine, la Comtesse was a substitute delegate for her country. The Count and I early became friends because I had promised him my vote if ever there was an opportunity to help Hungary in regard to the Treaty of Trianos. He lived, worked, and preached the revision of that treaty, and convinced many a delegate of the justice of his plea.

ASTUTENESS OF THE VETERAN. On one occasion, when I was showing what I believed to be a weakness of the French plan in regard to the creation of an International Army under the League of Nations, Count Apponyi came across to my seat after I had spoken, and asked me to give him a " pull" of my speech for his Hungarian papers. I said to him: " Surely, Count, anything I say 'is of little importance. Why should not you who have only lost the presidency of the League by one vote, make a speech on the same lines if you approve of them, for then they will be listened to? " He shrugged his shoulders and said: "Ah, Sir Thomas, we wish to get our loan renewed next July," and I understood. Since the Count has died I have met his son, not only in Geneva, but at 415 The Strand, where he came to have a look at the stag's head that I had in my room in that building, a beautiful head shot by Sir Charles Skerrett. He looked At it from every angle and admired it very much, but he said, not boastingly: "We have them larger than that in the Carpathians." Mme. la Comtesse still attends the League as a delegate since her husband's death. Count Apponyi was over six feet in height, very thin, with a grey beard and somewhat scanty locks. His face was a favourite one with caricaturists, and there are many pictures of him in the Secretariat of the League. BRILLIANT SON IN SPAIN.

I read in the newspapers a few weeks ago that Senor Madariaga had become Minister of Education in ■ the present Spanish Cabinet. He was one of the most brilliant brains in Geneva. He speaks English perfectly, French, German, and Italian. Ho won King Alfonso's Scholarship in Spanish at Oxford. He is an author of some advanced works.

Senor Madariaga started life in a failway office, became a reporter, then a writer .of leading articles, and then a member of the Secretariat of. the League of Nations. When Zamora became head of the new regime in Spain, Senor Madariaga was made Ambassador at Washington. Later he became Ambassador for Spain at Paris. He was probably the most brilliant, the most impish and the most dexterous of the many diplomats at Geneva. When I asked him, after he had been moved from Washington to Paris, what he expected to be next, he said to me—- " Don't be surprised if I become Bishop of Toledo." Instead of that he has become Minister of Education.

I cannot think of Senor Madariaga without remembering the suave M. Paul Hymans, Delegate-in-Chief for Belgium, the elert and clever representative of Greece; his Excellency Nicholas Politis, former Minister of Foreign JAffairs of that country and Envoy-Extraordinary in Paris; the ever-busy, buzzing, disturbing and quick-thinking Dr Benes; the subtle, experienced, and much travelled Nicholas Titulesco, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Rumania; the bluff, whimiscal, literary genius, M. Hambro, of Norway, Leader of the Conservative Party and Speaker of the Parliament of that country. One of the best after-dinner speakers and tellers of humorous stories in per-fectly-phrased English, M. Hambro is a joy to meet and t.o listten to. When a quip or a clever remark is coming, his eyes laugh in anticipation, and twinkle in realisation when the point has- been well taken. Associated with him is Dr Christian Lange, who'-is serious, tireless, and charming in every way. When I first went to Geneva he showed me round, introduced me to those who mattered, and has never hesitated to help me during my many visits to the conferences there. RUSSIA'S IDEA OF HUMOUR. M. Litvinoff, the delegate of Russia, was undoubtedly the Puck of the assembly. He would wait until the representatives of the leading Powers had made their speeches and then make a speech, taking out a definite statement made by each of the leading Powers, and make those statements his official pronouncement. In that way, every one of the speakers who had gone before him found themselves in agreement with something that he had said Sometimes he could carry his speech through with a serious face, but more usually he was enjoying the fun of his own speech as much as those who were listening to him. Senor Madariaga took pleasure in ridiculing his utterances. t think probably the cleverest diplomat at Geneva is M. Rene Massigli, who is permanent head of the French League of Nations office there. I, have seen him gain votes where a British delegate could never have hoped to succeed. M. Massigli is tireless, and when committees of the Assembly have finished .their work he is beginning his efforts, which last, usually, far into the night. I once noticed him showing undisguisedly his non-appreciation of something a German delegate was saying. At that time _ I was acting as vice-president of the Disarmament Committee of the League. H 1 was much surprised when T said to him. "Even if yon do not agree with wha~ the German delegnte is saying, why show it so plainly?" He appeared genuinely astonished and said. "Well, I must be more careful in future."'

REPRESENTATIVES OF GERMANY. I know Baron von Rheinbaben, late Secretary of State in Germany, very well, Baron von Neurath, and von Papon, a weakling. I has-e talked with an interesting personage, Baron von Bernstorff, who was German Ambassa-

dor in New York during the war. He is an old man now, and some of the stories told me by the Dutch delegate Dr Munch, of von Bernstorffs sincere belief in the, League of Nations would be worth retelling.

I know Dr Yen, the Chinese representative at the League, and now Ambassador for China in Russia. He made the best speech, in English, I have ever heard made in Geneva. He came to me and wanted to know which way I was going to vote with regard to the Chinese-Japanese trouble, and he pointed out to me that we lad well-behaved Chinese in New Zealand and also in Samoa,' and he expected that when the division came I would vote with him. I told him, smilingly, that I expected my vote would be cast with the British delegation, and that that vote would not be cast until a full discussion had taken place between the representatives of the dominions and the British delegates. ' I know M. Paul Boncour, of France, quite well, and I have in my study, where I, am writing this article, a pic'nre of that great orator, the late M. Aristidn Briand. On his photograph which he sent me he has written in French, "To my colleague, Sir Thomas Wilford, very cordially.—Aristide Briand." TRIUMPH OF ORATORY. The greatest speech I ever heard M. Briand make was when his economic plan for Europe had failed.. Notwithstanding the failure, he handed over the plan to* the League of Nations to work out to what he caljed a successful end. knowing perfectly well it was dead for all time. His speech was a triumph of persuasive oratory, and gave the impression to all who heard it ■ that he really believed there was a chance for an economic advance on the lines he had Suggested. He would walk up and down while he spoke, use first .his right arm out at full length, and then his left, throw his head back, shaking his heavy locks, and then, from a deep, sonorous voice, he would drop to the tiniest whisper, but. Ms speech was so perfectly enunciated that not a word whs lost. Baron Matsudaira, the Japanese Ambassador in London, I met frequently and got to like very much indeed. His wife is a charming woman, speaks English slowly but correctly, and entertains lavishly. Here it may be interesting to remark that I read in the papers recently that the prominent Germans in London have been instructed by their Government to learn golf, so as to bring them in touch with many people. I may say that these have been the instructions given by the Japanese Government to their representatives in Geneva from the time the conferences began. THE IRISH FREE STATE, Dr Wellington Hoo, another representative of China, is well known to me. He is a very able man, but I think Dr Yen is facile princeps. ' I must not forget Mr Sean Lester, a prominent representative in Geneva of the Irish Free State. He has lately received promotion, and been appointed by the Council of the League to be Governor of Danzig. I believe him to be well fitted for the position, and if tact and discretion will win out for the Council of the League at Danzig, Mr Sean Lester is the man to bring about that result. I attended a luncheon ho gave at .Geneva, when he entertained Mr de Valera, the President of the Irish Free State, and all the representatives of the dominions attended. Mme. Kluyver, First Secretary at the Ministry! of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands, is a woman of peculiarly brilliant attainments. Her speeches are not only logical, but full of common sense, and I have had opportunities of congratulating her when she has summed up, very ably indeed, in a few minutes, a discussion which has lasted for hours.