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Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1921, Page 2

Wiunii the cable news is giving the palm to Mr Hughes for beilig ill the forelrout of the Imperial Conference, and a good deal is being heard of Mr Massey’s goings and comings, there wa s quite a restricted reference to Mr Arthur Meighen, “the you lg man from the AVest” who represented Canada. We know, however, that Mr Meighen was a very free lance, and diri some independent tilting at the conference. A pen and ink stretch of this voting and new political figure on the horizon of Imperial politics, published iust at the opening of the Conference "'ill he of interest, because in point 3f fact the anticipations were rathei iccurately realised. The writer says: Hr Arthur Meighen Prime Minister >! Canada will be much in the public \ye during the next month. He holds strong views and is not afraid to express them. He has enthusiasm, elo|ucnce, vitality, and vivacity. He will i be the youngest member of the Imperial Conference—he is just forty-seven but he is experienced in tb< art of moulding men to his way .>f thinking. He is a Canadian through and through He was horn on an Ontario farm, of I'lstoi- Presbyterian stock. He Lad a ve ry brilliant career at tile University of Toronto, a training ground of great men. He passed his most impres--1 sionable years at Winnipeg, where ]if ( > is as strenuous as anywhere in the world. Then lie ettlod in PortagclnPrnirie, the Manitoban country town that for four generations was the Western border of civilisation. After leaving the universityy li 0 “taught school” : in Winnipeg he learnt business at Portago-10-Prairie he put up his shingle as an attorney-at-law. Tt .still hung over the first floor of a modest building in th e main street when I was last there, not so long ago. Small built, intense, looking somewhat frail but capable of hard and sustained effort, he won the confidence of the Manitoban farmers. They sent him to Ottawa as their representative in the I Dominion Pairliaiment. /Arthur Meighen soon “made good.” He had the good fortune to come at a time when his own party was out of office* and could put up a very poor flight against Sir Wilfred Laurier and his triumphant majority. Meighen fought without fear. He was able, forceful and practical. His opponents soon found that he was even more dangerous in Committee than in open debate. Th,» attempt by the'Liberals to establish reci- ( procity with the United States drove Sir Wilfrid Lan nor from office. When Sir Tfobert Tlorder and the Conserve- j fives came to ower Meighen’s claims demanded consideration. Tn 1913 he was appointed Solicitor-General. When , the Great War began he worked man- j fully and became Minister of the In- j ferior in the Coalition visiting London 1 "s r r.t fho Imperial Cabinet. Politically his greatest coup was after

the war, when on the retirement of Sir Robert Borden he was chosen Prime Minister. There was strong opposition. Mr Rowell, leader of the Coalition Liberals, thought that he might be chosen. Meighen called his partisans together and carried, all before him. Men gave his Ministry six -months to live. It is now nearer the end of its first year. He is a strong politician. He believes in holding on and he lias a- way of riding right over his opponents. He may prove a difficult clement in the Imperial Conference. He is an Imperialist but he is a Canadian first. He realises the importance of doing nothing that will stir up ill-will in America, and his vote on som e issues concerning the Pacific will be guided largely by that consideration.