TRIALS OF PUBLIC LIFE

Waipa Post, Volume 37, Issue 2191, 2 August 1928, Page 2

TRIALS OF PUBLIC LIFE

Last month Glasgow conferred the freedom of the city on Sir Austen Chamberlain. The reply of the recipient possessed a human touch that charmed his hearers. Talking of the joys and work of public life, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said:—"To have been in public life for 40 years perhaps excuses some reflections on a public career, There ar,e moments when we are vexed by some passing incidents; at such moments I have cofided to my wife that it is a dog's life, and that I don't know why I submit to it. And then she says, when I suggest that with my books and a little bit of garden I could be very happy, that I might be so for six months, but that after that I should weary of my leisure; I once—and this is, perhaps, a warning to the younger among you against indiscretions in moments of exasperation—l once in our early married life told my wife a story which I owed to the late Lord Balfour of Burleigh. There was an election in his county, and he was sitting with the .committee of the Conservative Association, running over the voters' list and marking off the proclivities of the people whose names were enrolled. They came to 'Jock Somebody,' and one of the committee men said, 'Oh, Jock's all right; he told me he is to vote for us.' 'But,' said another member, 'Sandy told me that Jock said to him that he was to vote with them.' Then they wondered what Jock was really going to do, and at last somebody suggested— Does no one know his his wife; he bably tells the truth to her?' And, having found a volunteer, they said, "'Go and find out what he is when he is at home.' The volunteer went to see Mrs Jock, and, having passed the time of day with her, he duly asked his question. 'You want to know what my man is when he is at home,' she said. 'Well, he's a nuisance; that's what he is.' You see that great effects from little causes spring. I told this story to my wife some two and twenty years ago, and whenever I show a tendency to seek release from public duties she says—i What! and be a nuisance at home! But, after all, if I have these moments of weariness and distaste, I can nevertheless say, after my, long experience, to any young man or woman who is thinking of the possibility of undertaking public work, that it is worth while, that the more you do it the more interested you become. If there are moments of disappointment, still the work is profoundly interesting; and I think I may add, in the light of my eyperience. that a rich and generous reward awaits anyone who gives honest service according to their measure."