LORD DERBY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144857, 8 December 1915, Page 5

LORD DERBY.

“THE BEST RECRUITING SERGEANT IN ENGLAND.”

A PEER WHO KNOWS THE WORKER.

(By-One Who Know® Him, In lie Manchester Guardian.)

j The appointment of Lord Derby as 1 Director-General of Recruiting has come . as a surprise to many, but to Lancashire men it seems the most appropriate and fitting selection which Lord Kitchener could have made at the present juncture. Perhaps in the days to come, when the history of the war is written, it will be said that Lord Derby saved the voluntary system, for if'only we can , so, organise the whole country as he hasorganised West Lancashire in his capacity of chairman of the West Lancashire • Territorial Association, and produce i equally steady results, compulsion will i probably be unnecessary in most areas. • His success as a recruiter dated from ' the early days of the war. The Territorial Division for which he was responsi ible was up to strength within a few ■ days of mobilisation, and a very few i days later ho was devoting hmself to tlie raising of a second line. ■ Liverpool then received his attention, for ho 1, quickly raised a brigade of “Pals.” Nest the County Palatine Artillery were raised, and, if numbers are significant, it appears that he enlisted double the I number of men for whom he asked ori- , ginally. Ho was the founder, too, of ; the Dockers’ Battalion. But recruiting in the first six months of the war was comparatively simple. The difficulties arose early in the summer, at the time when the War Office, for some inexplicable reason, slackened off in its recruiting efforts. Lord Derby grasped the situation promptly, and his first recruiting campaign m West Lancashire started during", the first week in May. His baqjj of crusaders visited" every town afifi village in the West Lancashire area. There were two bands—Lord Derby’s own magnificent recruiting band and the Scotch Pipers—a carefully selected speaking staff, and a few skilled recruiters. The whole, campaign was organised to the utmost detail, so that every eligible man should hear the call voiced in the most tactful and persuasive manner possible. The results justified the means, for over 8500 men were enlisted for the Territorials alone, and regular recruiting undoubtedly received a stimulus which was lacking in other parts of the country. No sooner was the first campaign completed than Lord Derby began to organise a second. This was devoted purely to industrial centres, and it has been publicly ananounced that the number of men obtained were within a few hundred of the thousands asked for to provide the essential reserves for the West Lancashire Territorial Division. But bauds, speakers, and organisation could not have achieved results that obviously surpass those obtained in other parts of the country without the personality and directing power of Lord Derby at the head. His chief characteristic in Lancashire recruiting was undoubtedly his capacity to obtain the assistance of civilians of influence in every district. Whether he will exhibit the same power in the rest of the country the future alone will show, hut his bonhomie and plain speaking are magnets which attract civilians. He cut the yards of red tape which entangle the regular* recruiting offices. He wrote straight to the Mayor of the Town Council or to the chairman of the urban district council and said -he needed their help. Usually the local councils offered their buildings, _ their staffs, their local experience, without stint or restriction. A gam, Lord Derby is so much in touch with modern English life in .it he recognised that the trade union organisers possess an influence which may be unseen and Unadvertised, but is one of the most powerful factors in moulding public opinion. ■ Therefore he appealed to tho trade . unionists for help four months ago—months before Labour Recruiting Rallies were dreamt of. Labour loaders like Stephen Walsh, Thomas Greenall, John M'Gurk, J. A. SodoVm, and James Sexton gave him unfailing assistance,, and by a few weighty words at private conferences inspired men in their organisations to enlist. But it was Lord Derby who said the right word at the right" season which moved men of all parties to work for the nation’s good. Another characteristic,. which has ed from the miners and others of Lancacashiro outspokenness. As a nation wo have grown restive under a policy of vague suggestions. “More, men are, . needed.” It made little impression. “We call upon you to fight for your King and country.” Such-a phrase produces a cheer at a meeting, but little more. Lord Derby was definite. The dullest man could understand such sentences as these, uttered at Skelmeiisdnle on October 1

“This Pioneer battalion is being raised fro mthe minors and others of Lancashire, and I am appealing to the minerd of Skelmersdnle to help to gain a substantial addition to the ranks. ... I, who am responsible for obtaining officers for this battalion, bog you to accept my assurance that nobody trill go. into the ranks of the officers unless I am certain, ho is qualified as a loader of men. On this platform arc Wo members of the battalion-—Mr. Arthur Walsh, son of ,Mr. Stephen Walsh, and Mr. Tinker, who is learning his work from the very bottom by going through the ranks to learn from experience.” In those few sentences are contained the whole secret of Lord Derby's suc.oosß at recruiting. There is plain, even blunt, speaking. He appeals to a de- . finite class of a definite district. Every, minor in Skelmersdalo in the audience knew that the call was to him or to his sons. But Lord Derby showed that he knew also that the miners were suspicious of their possible officers. Without equivocation he then explained that ha recognised their suspicions, and had taken care that those "who joined should be fed by qualified men. Driving home Ibis point, no turned to two of the men whom he had selected, the one the son of an old political opponent, “Stephen Walsh’s lad”; the other Joe Tinker, the local miner's agent, formerly the strongest anti-militarist of the district, now a member of the Inns of Court O.T.C. Wo nr Lancashire who know Lord Derby, his boundless energy, his common sense, his kindly outlook on human nature, feel convinced that his success in Lancashire will bo repeated at the War Office, if mortal effort can avail. There will probably be some shocks for those who are accustomed to the old worn-out method, but whatever are the new plans for recruiting, we may be sure that every effort will he made to retain the voluntary system, and that all his actions will be marked by the same hard common sense, mingled with appreciation of humanity, which has already given him the reputation of the _“bost neoruitins £ei®^t.in.,Ekjclaad.”