DEATH OF LORD RHONDDA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 246, 5 July 1918, Page 5

DEATH OF LORD RHONDDA

PASSING OF .A SUCCESSFUL FOOD ! CONTROLLER | London, July 3. Lord Rhondda, Food Controller, died this morning— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Asm. TRIBUTES IN PARLIAMENT. (Rec. July i, 8.20 p.m.) London, July 3. In the House of Commons Mr. Bonar Law and Mr. Asquitli paid warm triImtes to Lord Rhondda's services. Mr. Bonar Law mentioned Hint the disease from which he had died originated from exposure on the occasion of tho sinking of the Lusitania. Tiie Premier (Mr. Lloyd George) telegraphed his sympathy to Lady Rhondda, Baying that Lord Rhondda had given his life for his country.—Router. THE NEW CONTROLLER. It is understood that Mr. J. I?. Clyncs (the Labour member who has successfully understudied Lord Rhondda as his deputy in tho Houso of Commons), will succeed his late chief.—"The Times." BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The late Lord Rhondda 'Mr. David Alfred Thomas) was described as "a business man first and a House of Commons man afterwards." Ho was a believer in direct methods. As President of tho Local Government Board, under tho reconstructed Ministry of. Mr. Lloyd George, ho raised that Department to a high pitch of efficiency by his energy and freedom frcm "departmentalism." Tho late Lord Rhondda, says a writer in "To-day," was intended for a painter, and his early propensities with brushes were deemed remarkable, for one so young. Finally lie took up his father's coal business, which ho expanded and rendered prodigiously lucrative. He had already gone through Cambridge f.nd achieved distinctions liko a seat in the Commons and Hie presidency of various commercial chambers and trade federations. Yet these things do not interest him. Ho was all for farming. He had at different times expended princely sums iii finding out that tropica! fruits will not flourish in Wales, and that the climate of London was unfavourable to the banana. Exporionco moderated the fury of his first agricultural enthusiasm; blithe was a romanticist as much as ever. Ho liked beans, and the English, gener. ally, do not, and this was n gravo disappointment to Lord Rhondda. He had to bo satisfied with seeing that they got no more sugar than was good for them. It had long been a tlieor* of his that pooplo all eat too much, and. tho war enabled him to prove it. Another idea of his was that fasting was excellent for the complexiou, his own being, however, but an.indifferent illustration of his theory. JTow much money Lord Rhondda has made out of coa! is one of tho subjects concerning which Socialist leaders occasionally manifest curiosity. Ho had a genius for talking coal-landowners into signing contracts, although in tho Commons lie could not mako a grand speech in Mr. Balfour's manner. He lu<l tin excitable way of working himself up to passion's point when engaged in business transactions, and this emotion communicated itself to the other party (0 tho transaction. In tho innumerable, controversies over coal-rights in Wales, "D. A." (David Alfred Thomas), as ho was then dubbed, would appear _ at a critical moment with a contract in his pocket, duly signed and sealed. He had painted the most f:6rrible picture of (ho ruin awaiting anyone who would not give him a contract to extract the coal under ,1 certain AVelsh surface, land or water. This aptitudo for getting rich by revolutionising a great industry caused ono Labour leader to term Lord Rhondda a demon in one aspect, although an angel in another. "Lord Rhondda has a dual p-M'sonalilv Ho is a sort of industrial ■lekvll -and Hyde. Ho is both an industrial organiser and a capitalist, and tho functions of tho two aro quite distinct. Tho capitalist pure and simple in a non-prodticer. In so far as Lord Rhondda is an organiser of industry, a man whoso talents cnablo wealth production to be made, moro efficient, ho is a producer, a worker, and a public benefactor. But in so far as ho is a capitalist, a mere ownor of wealth and a

drawer .of profits, ho is n public men-, ace." Nothing was more characteristic of Lord Rhondda than his compilation of sketches of himself in which liei was depicted as an exploiter of tho wealth of his native land for his own capitalistic behoof. Whenever ho was inclined to tconceit, he read over tho various studies of his career which represent him as tho economic monster gorged with coal profits. "How* often/' he was asked, "do you feel conceited?" To which he replied: "Not often." Lord Rhondda onco said an indiscreet thing. If lie wero a coal miner lie would be a Socialist. This confession was thrown in his teeth by a writer in the London "Times." "It is quite likely, that I may have said that." conceded Lord Rhondda. "If I were a miner I would iu all probability bo a Socialist, for I should not "then have the knowledge and j practical experience of the application of economic principles which I now pos : sess." / Lord Rhondda was 011 the Lusitania when she was torpedoed by a submarine. He is said to have expreasr-a considerable annoyance subsequently at the finding of Lord Mersey's court that "probably the disastrous attempts of tho frightened passengers to assist in the launching operations, added to the difficulties of the crew in lowering tho boats. His own view was that the passengers were all heroes. "I suppose, in deference to Socialist opinion," ho told a journalist, "I ought to except myself." Jord Hhondda had gone to Cauada with full [lowers to' negotiate with ti.e Dominion Government, although ivJ„u ho ncir.evei there is ono of tho sec-eis of the war. "How did you feel," he u-ns asked by a reporter when he lanle.l rfler the torwdoing, to which he replied: "Wet." Upon reaching home he was asked by a constituent if ho had prayed during those awful moments after the lurptdo struck, to which he replied: T ta:l already said my prayers before I had my breakfast." Tho statement rereived with ridicule, at least in South Wales. If farming wero not vso notoriously the receation ot Lord Rhondda, lie would never have been Food Controller at all. The householders did not relirh the introduction of food card? for Itliis and that. Lord Rhondda surprised those who knew him bes: by his unexpected patience with the discontented, his diplomacy, upon occasion even his fluency. At tho end of a weary round of interviews and deputations and experts he would plungo into a maK of statistics at home in a small room on tho ground floor of hi? London residence. He had a passion for figures as well ns for fanning. He worked ont in his own somewhat crabbed hand the calculations npon which were based tho rationing system that, went into effect in Great Britain. Ilis main objects, as stated in the London "Spectator," wero to conserve supplies, to distribute them equally between rich and poor, and keep prices down. Ho worked through local food committees and arranged to extend his system to bread and moat. His scheme for feeding his countrymen went into full effect by the end of December, 1017.