LATE LORD BRASSEY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 155, 20 March 1918, Page 5

LATE LORD BRASSEY

HERO OF COUNTLESS STORIES

A PERSONAL SKETCH

Australia (says a writer in the Sydney "Sun") has had many varieties of Governors. Some, have been reserved, some genial, somo dignified, spme rollicking. Away back in tho early days of this land there wero oiio or two who wore almost Hunliko hi their'brutality.. But wo have had only one who was comic—Baron Brassey, who for five, years controlled the destinies of Victoria. Lord Brassey.was not a humorous noble. Far from: it,, he took him- ' self and all his .surroundings .with tho utmost seriousness, whether thoso surroundings involved tho laying/, of a foundation-stono or the witnessing of a pantomime. Liko most serious persons he had no idea that his very seriousness constituted a source of innocent merriment. Long before he had ever dreamed of being appointed a Governor of one of tho Dominions, Lord Brassey had gained an Empire-wide notoriety by reason of his "Naval Annual" and his insistence, in and out of season, in the Bri- • tish Parliament on the need' for increased naval power. .Moreover,, had ho-not toured the world in his own yacht, the Sunbeam, navigating her himself through tho troubled waters of Sydney Harbour and Hobson Bay? So it was that, when his appointment was cabled through, peoplo at this end did not ask, as they usually do when a new Governor is appointed, "Who is he?" whilo the newspaper offices were relieved of tho customary feverish turning up of "Who's Who" and, other I works of reference to discover the identitv of the future ruler. •

It was somewhat of a'surprise, on his first public appearance, to discover that the fervid preachor of Blue Water; Imperialism was not quite the orator wo had been led to imagine on his .' cabled utterances. In fact, wo came;, to tho conclusion that that cable man.' was an unmitigated faker.., None of : • those appeals to patriqtism .we had read in the front pages of the morning papers had been punctuated by the pauses which we found in the speeches of tho Governor himself. And when the "Bulletin" and other ribald prints came out and reported his Ternaries as broken up with "UM-AH,. UM-AH,""wo realised that such interpellation was more in accord with fact that our loyal description of- a mere pause.

It was not _ long before the public 1 took what publics -vulgarly describe '. as "a tumble." It was realised with sadness that Lord Brassey was not: an orator. It was further realised.' that his, diction "'and delivery, in any; person less exalted would have been a: cause of revelry. Stories began* to he. whispered about the" kindly, seriouk; old man—some -of "them-true,'' more of them the inventions of powers'whoneeded a peg whereon to hang their jokoß. ■

Thero was not a strcalc of meanness in Lord Brassey's composition, as the organisers of tho various charities could testify; hut he was a man who' hated waste as waste should bo hated,.'and a man whose carefulness in visible trifles led to his gaining an undeserved reputation for frugality. This' was aggravated hy a certain disorganisation which took place during his:6tay \h Victoria In tho financial. management, of: the _ leading to creditors having to wait months—in instances years—for money which Lord Brassey had loiig believed to have heen paid. ,

Ono of the cruellest of- those libels concerned a function at Government House, where some hundreds of gueats attonded in the ball-room. "Um—ah— refreshments will bo' served on the um —ah—verandah," announced the Governor at the conclusion'of business, so' the story ran. There was a rush for the two doors leading to the verandah, and the vanguard emerged to find two small tables, eech bearing a bottle of champagne and a plate of sandwiches.Lord Brassey, attended by Lord Richard Nevill, followed, and no sooner had they passed the doorway than Lord Brassey announced,, "Um-ah—the function is now concluded. Richard, remove the wine." ■

Hancock's Imitations. Many people in Melbourne who had no means of knowing the human side of the old man's character firmly swallowed that story as gospel, though it really owed its origin to a smoke-night item contributed by the late John Hancock, M.L.A. Hancock was a real humorist. His death was a'bigger blow to the 'Labour Party of Australia than it ever realised. He was also an instinctive mimic, and bis imitations of Lord Brassey were absolutely lifelike. Not that he ever used the name of the old man, for whom he had a warm affection ; but it was his practice to deliver speeches as "Lord Hancock" hitting off the foibles of the Governor. It was in this manner that he told the "Remove the wine" story: —a story which dozens of people will be found ready to swear they heard. Towards the end of Lord Brassey's period of Governorship, his fame had become bo widespread that he was the tero of thousands of wild stories,'and the mention of his name was regarded as the symbol of something comical or ludicrous, just as that of Sir Thomas Bent was ten years later. Perhaps tub most extravagant of all the yarns —and one firmly 'believed by many ; to this day—was that, during: a tour of the bay, the Sunbeam cast anchor-off the seaside township of Mornington. The Governor, according to his custom, took a dingy and rowed it ashore himself. The day passed, the sun Sot, and there was no sign of bis Tcturn. By 10 p.m. tho crew anxious, and an excitod skipper and bosun put off for tho pier. They made their way up the solitary street of the township, asked everywhere bad an elderly man with groy .'.side-whiskers and a seafaring aspect been seen. But not a clue was forthcoming. Sadly, at last, they made their way to tho police station, apprehensive' that they would learn, the sad tidings that their beloved master bad fallen before tho dneger of the assassin. "No," said tho ,serceant,- "no lost gentleman reported. The only stranger we've seen's the old bloke in number one cell. Locked up for personating the Governor."