Some Men of Character

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21126, 27 August 1938, Page 12

Some Men of Character

WIDE RANGE OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY

It seems true to many instances that autobiographies are written by people who will never have biographies written about them. Yet how much fascinating experience would be lost, how much sheer entertainment would perish, if the Eliots and the Pellys, eminent enough in their own spheres, but never so spectacular in their achievements as to have caught and held the public Imagination, were to refrain from telling their life-stories in print I Lives of Men A colonial administrator, whose range was from the Pacific to the West Indies, am an admiral who has covered so much of the world’s surface as his title indicates, cannot but be good companions and enlighteners of their kind. The really dull autobiographies are those of people whose self-import-ance is greater than their significance to others—who record rather than amuse and Inform. David Davies, of Llandinam, the great Welsh industrialist (1818-1890), could well leave the history of his life to others, and Mr Thomas’s book is, in fact, the second on this subject. He has made the most of it, in solid Victorian style, building a memorial in preference to a vivid, human delineation. A less sympathetic writer might have made great play with the solemn self-righteous faces of Davies and his associates, as pictured in a photograph of 1867; with Davies’s intolerance, egotism, narrowness, and hardness as they appear plainly enough in these pages, largely from his own words so frequently quoted. From a hostile modern point of view, he is the typical nineteenth century Nor. conformist capitalist; as railway, coal, and dock magnate he is open to blame for some of the conditions under which the twentieth century suffers. Yet his grim life-story must qualify this interpretation. He came from indigence to affluence, without forgetting or attempting to deny his origins. He scorned to go beyond himself, and to the end treated his workmen as brothers and friends. Doubtless, he could have had honours, but he remained simple Davies of Llandinam. Mr Thomas sees him as completely “a child of his times.” In an era of intense competition, he revelled in the struggle. Biologists then taught that competition was an inexorable law of nature, tending to the supremacy of the species best adapted to the contest. Economists believed that in a regime of competitive individualism the interests of the human race were most likely to be attained. David Davies accepted this philosophy naturally and instinctively, and was a living embodiment of it. It was a rugged, masculine philosophy, uncorroded by sentiment, and wholly agreeable to his own hardy nature." “Top Sawyer” In youth, when he earned his living partly by sawing, he took his place as “top sawyer,” and determined to be top sawyer in everything else. Hence his great success and tire title of this biography. He became a contractor, and built many of the railways in Wales; he went In for coal, and headed the great Ocean Company; he was elected to Parliament, and sturdily represented his own class until a difference of opinion with Gladstone over Home Rule put him out; always studious for the progress of Wales, he built the great Barry Dock. Among his many philanthropic works were the foundation and maintenance of the University College of North Wales, at Aberystwyth, for his lack of education inspired in him a passion for It. The result is that his memory lives, not only In his native village of Llandinam, but among coalminers, railway workers, university students, and politicians. Readers will remember him now as a Victorian of the best type—massive in moral and physical strength, honest as day, a great builder, a great benefactor. An Empire Builder Mr E. C. Eliot may claim to be an Empire-builder. He is still serving the Empire in writing his autobiography, years after his retirement from the colonial service, for its main purpose. we are told in a foreword, is “to bring to notice the grave danger of allowing too much power to be left in the hands of permanent officials in our offices of State.” Both he and his brother, Sir Charles Eliot, Ambassador to Japan, who died in 1931, suffered at the hands of obscure “clerks of Downing Street." Because he would not consent to a dubious grant of native land to a London syndicate, Sir Charles in 1904 resigned his Governorship of British East Africa, and was out of the service for 14 years. E. C. Eliot’s fate was not so severe; as Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Protectorate, with headquarters at Ocean Island, from 1913 to 1920, he unearthed a scandal which had the full sanction of Government officials, but found his despatches simply ignored or acknowledged without comment. He has saved up the story till now, when it may be told in support of his thesis. The facts are that, under the Anglo-German agreement of 1886, the natives of Ocean Island were under British protection when an iniquitious concession was made to the Pacific Phosphate Company. Later (1901) the island was formally “annexed.” While there, Mr Eliot did his best to have the Injustice to the natives remedied, and was successful in at least preserving their- loyalty, which was conspicuously demonstrated during the war, about which, in so far as it affected Ocean Island and Nauru, he has some Interesting details. For the rest, his book concerns itself with life in various quarters of the world—the Argentine and Uruguay, when he was a cattleman and railway overseer; British Guiana, Gold Coast Colony, Tobago, Australia (of which he says comparatively little); Uganda Protectorate, Dominica, and Barbadoes, where he has found a happy haven.

Lives at Sea In the course of his wanderings, Admiral Sir Henry Pelly, too, spent some time in Australia, or at least in Australian waters. He came out on H.M.S. Tauranga in 1891, and had some interesting experiences before his return eight years later. This is not one of the important parts of his book, however. The two highlights are his service on the Royal yacht Victoria and Albert, and his war experiences. During the former he not only was presented to the Queen and members of her family, but also after her death supervised the conveyance of her body from the Isle of Wight. He has some telling anecdotes about the German Emperor, Victoria’s grandson, of whom he saw something; likewise pleasant things to relate of Edward VII., George V., and other distinguished persons with whom, as he rose in the service, he came in contact. On the outbreak of the war, Sir Henry was appointed to command H.M.S. Tiger, and sent to join Beatty’s Battle Cruiser Squadron. He took part, with conspicuous success, in the action of the Dogger Bank and in the Battle of Jutland, his run against the German Battle Cruiser Fleet in the latter fight being regarded as “a classic of naval gunnery,” though he does not say so himself. Experience in the North Sea, and previously in the Far East, the West Indies, and the South Seas, was rounded off by his appointment, after the war, to the command of the Egypt and Red Sea station, and subsequently to the naval command at Gibraltar. Retired now, he swears that if he had to choose his career over again, he would choose no other, “for there is no finer or more interesting career open lo anyone.”

What is particularly attractive about this book is the clean-cut, matter-of-fact style in which it is written. In fact, one sometimes thinks he has been too brief, perhaps too reticent. But only too often the man of action quails at the quill, or, perhaps, one should say, pukes at the pen.

“Top Sawyer: A Biography of David Davlea of Llandinam," by Ivor Thoma?. London: Longmans, Green and Co. “Broken Atoms: An Autobiography,” by E. C. Eliot. London: Geoffrey Bles. “300,000 Sea Miles: An Autobiography,” by Admiral Sir Henry Pelly. London: Chatto and Wlndus.