PEACE CONFERENCE CELEBRITIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3418, 19 September 1919, Page 42

PEACE CONFERENCE CELEBRITIES.

INTERESTING FIRST-HAND IMPRESSIONS. LECTURE BY MR R. RILEY. An illustrated lecture and musical entertainment in aid of th© equipment- fund of the Children's Convalescent Home at Forbury was given in the St. Clair Presbyterian Schoolroom on the 15th. The entertainment, which was organised by the St. Clair Ladies' Club, was very largely attended, and the brisk sale of lollies in the room added considerably to the funds made available for the home. Mr Riley spoke first of the principal difficulties confronting the Peace Conference, especially that of adjusting the claims of the various Allies themselves. He had been greatly impressed .with the tremendous strength of the British Empire, which had 14- delegates, but there was no unfairness about this, as the conference never reached its decisions by the counting of votes. With the assistance of recent phonographs Mfl Riley proceeded to give a number of very vivid, terse, and informative descriptions of the leading statesmen taking part in the Peace Conference or closely associated with it. M. Clemenceau, now in his 79th year, the "grand old man" of France, he characterised as undoubtedly one of the greatest figures at the conference, if not the greatest. He keeps his marvellous health and vigour by beginning each busy day at 5 o'clock. He does not smoke, eats sparingly, as all great men do, and in a country where wine is universally drunk, drinks water. "The Tiger" impressed the speaker as a most kindly old gentleman. Of President-Wil-son, Mr Riley said that he was deliriously welcomed to France, and his departure was genuinely regretted, but in between whiles he was often cursed with vim and unanimity among the French people. They were apparently disposed to think that he regarded himself as the president of the universe instead of the United States, but personally the speaker thought that criticism unfair, and he admired Mr Wilson for his > high moral courage. His one dominating aim at the conference was to end for ever the lunacy of war. Mr Lloyd George was, in the speaker's judgment, by far the cleverest man at the Peace Conference. Signor Orlando, Mr A. J. Balfour, Mr Bonar Law, Viscount Milner, Mr Barnes, Sir Robert Borden, Mr Hughes, General Botha, General Smuts, Lord Robert Cecil, Marshal Foch, Sir Douglas Haig, General French, General Pershing, Mr Winston Churchill, and Lord Northcliffe were among the other leaders passed shrewdly under review. In many cases personal reminiscences of contact with the men described added greatly to the value and interest of the description. Mr Riley spoke most feelingly of the late General Louis Botha, to whom he had had the honour of being private secretary for one day. Botha was one of the most admired and respected men at the conference, for the simple reason that he was all common sense. It/ was clear then that he was marked for an early fall. All his strength had gone. But none of his friends at the conference expected that the end would come so quickly. Sometimes Mr Riley's inside information was just a little provoking, as when he made reference to Lord Jellicoe. "Many people," he said, "are inclined to ask what is behind this visit of Lord Jellicoe. I could tell, but I daren't." In the closing part of his lecture Mr Riley described the scenes of rejoicing an Paris, and in considerable detail depicted ' the actual signing of the Peace Treaty in the marvellous Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The whole talk gave evidence of keen powers of observation and a" shrewd and pungent vein of humour that kept the audience on the best of terms with the speaker throughout.