New Zealands New Governor.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14216, 4 June 1910, Page 1 (Supplement)

New Zealands New Governor.

r A CHARMING PERSONALITY. ("N.Z. Times" London Correspondent.) I feel rather guilty about my interview with the new Governor of New Zealand (writes our London correspondent). When I camo away from 8, Chesterfield Gardens, Lord Islington's town house, after a half hour's conversation, I realised to my dismay that instead of interviewing him I. had allowed him to interview me 1

Instead of asking Lord Islington all sorts of formal questions about the destiny of the British Empire and his views on Imperial federation, immigration, and other equally "safe" subjects on which a new Governor is usually expected to dilate, I found that most of tho time had been spent in discussing life in New Zealand, its attractions, its points of difference compared with English life. AVe were so interested in the subject of New Zealand, and he had so many inquiries to make, that all tho set questions with which I had come prepared disappeared from sight. It was a most pleasant talk, but it was not "copy," and that was what I had conio for.

I was guilty, and yet it was not altogether my fault. If you have not got through mo a formal interview with the new Governor I can only attribute it to the charm of his personality and the way in which ho kept me interested in his inquiries about New Zealand. "A BAD SUBJECT." ''Do you know," I said eventually, "1 regard you as a bad subject to interview."

"Why ?'*' asked Lord IslingtoS in tones of innocent surprise.

_ "Because _ you ask so many questions," I said. "If you were a, good subject you would be answering questions, not asking them. You would be dictating to me at great lengthy and with immenso seriousness, your opinions on the Motherland and her daughter States, and I would be taking it all do wn in shorthand in a large notebook. Then I should come away full of copy." Lord Islington laughed. "Well," he snid, "if there is anything you would like to know, just ask me soma questions."

Now that is l the sort of roply that always "floors" me. I have had to.interview, many people in my time, and I have always found that when my "subject" sits down with an air of self-abnegation and asks me if there are any questions I would like to ask liim, the horrid formality of tho process overwhelms me. It is all the difference between a conversation and an interview. The one is natural, the other artificial; _ and the best way to disarm an interviewer, unless he be very casehardened, is to say sweetly, "If there is anything you would like "to ask me— ii

WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE. I have not yet described the new Governor. He is tall and soldierly in appearance, well-built and erect, with greyish hair and moustache. His features are regular and handsome and his figure athletic and well-groomed. He is personally a charming man, intellectual, genial, and polished. He showed himself intensely interestted in everything concerning New Zealand. "I have hardly had time to realise it yet,"he said, when I asked how the idea of going to New Zealand appealed to him, "but I am sure I shall like it. "No, I have not visited New Zealand before. I have been in South Africa, and Canada, and have recently returned from the West Indies, but Australasia will be new to me. I saw something of the New Zealanders in the field in tho South African war. They did very good work indeed.

"I am looking forward to travelling extensively_ in New Zealand. It must be a most interesting country, and the climate, lam told, is very fine. lam fond both of shooting and fishing, and I hope to get some good sport in a country famous for its deer and trout.

"New Zealand seems to be a country to which its people become very strongly attached. I have often been told that English men and women who come back on holiday to the Old Country after long years spent in New Zealand are almost always glad to get back to their New Zealand .homes. That speaks very well for the Dominion, doesn't it? WHEN THEY LEAVE.

"I expect to leave by the P. and O. boat which sails on May 6th,- joining the steamer at Marseilles. That is the earliest boat I can possibly take, and it will be a rush to get away so soon, but I am wanted in New Zealand for the opening of Parliament. That, I understand, will be my first official duty. Lady Islington will follow in a later boat, probably in .Tuly. and our little daughter and Miss Pauline Cotton will go with her." Does this appointment mean that you have said good-byo to politics? "So long as I am Governor, of course, I can take no part in politics," was the reply. "What will happen

when my term, comes to an end I cannot say at present. 1 should 110b like to think, however, that I have finally closed the door 011 political life." There is a good timo ahead, during Lord Islington's reign as Governor, for literary and artistic New Zealanders, unless I mistake, for he is interested in culture of all kinds, and always glud to encourage it. "I specially look forward to seeing the sheep-runs in New Zealand/' Lord Islington said, "from all accounts they must be splendid. We shah both enjoy our time in the Dominion without a doubt. It seems strange to us in England to realise the great variety of climate that there is in New Zealand, deep snow in the south in winter, oranges and lemons growing in the open in the summer in the north."

"I am not in a position yet to announce the appointments of any of my staff, but when I have made the selection I shall be glad to give you information regarding it," added Lord Islington. NEW GOVERNOR'S CAREER. New Zealand is to have a decidedly young Governor—only forty-three. He has, however, crowded a good deal into his lfe since he succeeded wliilo still in liis teens to a baronetcy which had been held by three uncles in succession, and he has seen much of the world and of men.

He is a. large Wiltshire landowner, and as chairman of the Great Northern Hospital he has helped to promote a better understanding between tho different London hospitals, especially in regard to King Edward's Hospital Fund. He has seen active service in South Africa, where ho did good work on Lord Methuen's staff, gaining, the D.S.O. and a medal and three clasps, and has only recently returned from Canada and the West Indies, which he visited as a Commissioner in company with Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Sir Daniel Morris, with the object -of bringing about better trade relations between Canada and the West Indies. Lord Islington is a whole-hearted free trader, _ having, in fact, broken away from his old Conservative party which he represented in Parliament from 1892, mainly on that subject. Knowing well what tlio condition of the Wiltshire labourer was in protectionst times, he refused to have anything to do with the so called Tariff "Reform" and was returned t-o Parliament in 1906 as. a Liberal and free trader. WORK ON THE L.C.C.

Lord Islington has for some time past been actively associated with many reform movements, notably that relating to tlio housing of the working classes. He was for a long period a prominent member of the London County Council, and, although he has sat as si Moderate member for Finsbury, tho Progresive Council in 1898 (appointed him chairman, .of the Housing of the AVorking Classes Committee, and during his tenure of office some of the Council's most notable schemes were carried out. Lord Islington's progressive views upon numerous occasions brought him into conflict with the majority of his party,, with which he differed upon many questions besides that of housing. In more recent years he lias acted as president of the National Housing Reform Council, now the National Housing and Town Planning Council, perhaps the most virile of existing organisations connected with the movement. He took a prominent part in the agitation which resulted in the passing of Mr John Burns's Housing and Town Planning Act of last session, and, in addition to making a number of notable speeches in the - House of Commons, presided at several conferences that A'ere called by the Council with the object of creating greater publio interest in the housing movement. Lord Islington has always exhibited a keen sympathy with proposals relating to social betterment, and his experience on various Parliamentary Committees brought him into close contact with the details as well as the broad principlea of this problem. Born in 1866, Lord Islington was educated at Harrow and Oxford. In 1896 he married Miss Anne Beauclerc Dundas, the grand-daughter of Lord Napier of Magdala, who is popular in London society as well as with the tenants and people of North-west Wilts. Their only daughter is Joan Alice Catherine, a striking picture of mother and child having been exhibited by J. J. Shannon, R. A., in the Royal Academy of 1905. 200-YEAR OLD HOME.

The baronetcy dates back to Nelson's time, and was conferred for gallant service upon Admiral Dickson. The family has rendered good service to the State in the Navy and Army. It was when he inherited the estates of his maternal uncle that Sir John added Poynder to his name. With these estates came the beautiful Wiltshire seats, Hartham Park and Hilmarton Manor, and also extensive property in London. Hartham Park, which the pew Governor lias made his homo, is in its original structure something like two centuries old. Substantial addition ha.s been mado, notably by the famous Htirdwick, and it is one of the finest of the stately homes of England. Its grounds are delightful. There is a Dutch garden, a beautifully arranged rosery, a wild garden and an Italian garden. WEST COUNTRY TRIBUTES.

(The following notices appeared before our new Governor was raised to the peerage.) "West of England and Wiltshire men in particular, will be interested in and gratified by the appoitmet of Sir John Dickson-Poynder to be Governor of the Dominion of New Zealand," says tho "Western Daily Press," of Bristol. "When Sir John declined to stand for the Chippenham division at the last general election, many of the public guessed that it was because either of impending elevation to the peerage or to important non-party appointment, and the secret is now out.

"Sir John attained a very distinct and honourable reputation in Parliament. Ho was, at one time, what many call themselves but few are, a progressive Conservative, and on the London County Council as in the House of Commons lie was in advance of his party, until the time came when he found that he had more in common with Liberalism than with Conservatism.

"Honesty, intelligence and Courage have marked all his political utterances, and in the democracy of New Zealand ho will gain new political knowledge that will be of value to the Old Country and the Empire when hie term of office has expired."

Another West Country paper, the "Bristol Times," a Conservative organ, says:

"Sir John Dickson-Poynder ia to be congratulated on his appointment to the important position of Governor of New Zealand, and the people of the Dominion, it may be predicted, will have no reason to regret the choice which makes him Lord Plunket'a successor. ...

"We have always siad respect for his intellectual ability and his knowledge of affairs. The man who changes Ins political opinions may be mistaken, but in nine case out of ten lie deserves credit for sincerity and courage. Party politics are, however, laid . aside by the Governors of our great Dominions. They have to forget, or try to forget, the parties which they leave in the Mother Country, and they have to hold the scales evently between the very different parties which they find in the oversea States.

"Sir John, when he sails for . New Zealand, _ will leave a full record of work behind him. His name is familiar to West Country people, not only from his long Parliamentary connection with the Chippenham Division, but ' from, the share he has taken in Wiltshire

i county affairs and in educational, rein giuus, and pliilanthropio matters affect" ink .the district. His service as. a soldier in South Africa and his. recent! visit to tlio West Indies are experiences or a wider nature which will not bej without value in his new office. 7i ''THE CROSS-BEi\ T CH MIND." I. ho appointment of Sir John son-Poynder to the Governorship of iNew Zealand will scarcely occasion surP r ! se at Westminster," says the "Yorkshire Observer." "His name had beeit associated with an early vacancy of the kind even before the close of the last I ornament, and the fact that he did not seek re-election this year was held to have much the same significance as the similar retirement of Lord Gladstone.

Sir John Poynder, oJ Course,- trow cd the floor of the House in 1905, upon; the qiinsttion of Freetrade, after having indicated a certain severance from Jus Unionist leaders in the matter of the Education Act of 1902. In so doing he carried his constituency with' nun, Jus majority as a Liberal'in 1906 being nearly four times as large as hia earlier Unionist majorities. Ho had one or two points of difference with the Government m the last Parliament in the matter or the land clauses of the Budget, but these have not prevented tha cordial recognition of his administrative capacity. "He has managed to crowd Into hi* rorty-four years a considerable variety or experience from service in South/ men, to the chairmanship of the London traffic Commission—and his attractive personal qualities can scarcely rail to make him acceptable in his new office, notwithstanding the chronic tendency to difference which is known am the cross-bench mind.' " , irm "CAUSE AND EFFECT." The Pall Mall Gazette," a strongly partisan Tory organ, refers to Sir John Dickson-Poynder'e appointment ja its usual partisan way: "We never perceive the advantage of a strong diplomatic tradition at Whit®, hall more than when, as now, a Liberal Government has in its gift the appointment to important Governorships m our Dominions overseas. Without some such tradition as a basis for consistent policy, these daughter States would be a prey to every gust and flicker of the Liberal programme, and we might find them a victim to very natural misgivings with regard to n politician with a past like Sir John Dickson-Poynder. Ilis services to the Unionist and Moderate 1?™ , 6uf K ed since tis succession to 11 eetrade five years ago, and if* is not for us to mar a graceful occasion, like tho present by tracinff cause and effect between that chance of yew and his present change of sphere. !i Z 6 at broader horizon# and the traditions of the great trust ha is undertaking will bring the genial haronet back to larger counsels and a loftier sense of what the Empire requires. And he cannot do much better m this respect than follow tho high example of Lord Plunket, the predecessor, who now on retirement comes so deservedly m for his G.C.M„G."