AUSTRALIA’S PRIME MINISTER

Hokitika Guardian, 19 November 1929, Page 2

AUSTRALIA’S PRIME MINISTER

MR SCULLIN’S CAREER AND CHARACTER.

As a, youth Mr James Henry Scullin, the new Labour Prime Minister of Australia, worked in the bush at anything that came his way. tie was a small town grocer, a miner, a rouseabout. But all the time ho was studying. With his books as his background and years of endeavour behind him he is to-day Australia’s first citizen. He is Australia’s first native-born Labour Prime Minister. The product of a democracy, he has learnt to serve the people. Now elevated to the highest post in the gift of the nation, he pledges himself to go on serving them. There have been many repetition l of the journey from “Log Cabin to White House” since the days or Abraham Lincoln. John Christian Watson, the first Labour Prime Minister of the Commoniwealth, was a compositor; Andrew Fisher was a Scottish coal miner; and William Morris Hughes, first a. school teacher in Loudon, was an itinerant worker in New South Wales before he entered politics. 'Mr ‘ Sctlllin is a fluent though not always an impressive speaker. At times he emphasises the “soap box” type of orator, which, wlii’a aggressive, is not ahvavs a-pweeiated bv those unaccustomed to the stresses oF inflammatory speech. But this is not to sav that the now Prime Minister is not capable of addressing an audience made up of peonle who are not moved bv “static” r.nd oratorical firrworks. He has road a great deal. TP' is a student of human nature, and like a good actor, lie knows what sort of verbal menu to serve up.

ONE OF THE PEOPLE. • / Mr Sculliu has passed through the flux .pf . human understanding. He is right down to the level of the people. He is one .of them. And being of.the people,..he should, know how to serve them. , Tt is a long stride from a small town grocer’s shop to the first citizen,, of: a nation. There is a lot of daylight in; between. Sculliu has passed through the shadows also. The days bayo gone when people held up their hands in.horror at the thougn’. pf being ruled by a man who has Sprung from the rank and file. Scullin’s elevation to the leadership of the Australian Labour party and his promotion to the Prime Ministership recalls the famous 1906 general election campaign, when he opposed the late Alfred Deakin and caused the “silver-tongued’’ Prime Minister to cancel his engagements in the other States of the Commonwealth so that lie might pay more attention to his own electorate, He was beaten on this, occasion, but defeat only whipped up his ambition. He went, back to his work and his books. The Labour party began to take notice of the young’man with a mission., In, 1919 he came in on tlfe wave which overwhelmed the Deakin-Cook fusion. In Parliament lie impressed the older members bv, his enthusiasm and the diligence he displayed in pursuing his duties as a legislator. On the circulation of a bill Air Sculliu would take it home with him and study it from every angle so that when the opportunity arrived for him to join the debate be would be able to give an intelligent expression of his views Members always gave him a good hearing because they knew that behind his. speech there was a lot of preparation and a lot of study.

HARD. WORK AND SINCERITY. In the Australian Labour party all members have to pass through the fires of criticism. To rise above the ruck they must prove their mettle. Mr Scullin went to the frpnt becau«s his colleagues realised that he was a man who had the double virtue ■ of being sincere to the cause of ftlic common people and possessing the aptitude and inclination to serve them to the best of his-ability. He has no claim to brilliancy. In a “line-up” no one would select him as a leader. He has risen to Ins present position by hard work, concentration upon his task, an,l, above all, because of sincerity ' f purpose and 100-per-cent belief in the cause he espoused James Scullin has no enemies. He i- one of those who would be the first to take an adversary by the hand and say, “Sorry, old chap, but it’s all in the fight.” Born near Ballarat, Yjctim, -n 1870. Mr Scullin was not robust as a hoy. This probably accounted for his studious nature. Whc.i other hoys were playing their games young Scullin was at his books. W l en he turned out to work, still a boy, be went to night school in Bailaiur and achieved some scholastic set- • s>. Ho walked three miles to school and was never late. He attributes much of his early knowledge to the -Yet tha* his father used to get him to iead to him ai: nights. The books weio of Scullin senior’s selection, bur they were of the type that the v.imgor man cn : o od. His first teh was as :• labourer in a gold mine, lat»r goin. below as a full-blown miner T f waunderground that ho came to understand wl at real toil meant. There were few roses spread along the pa'h of his- youth.

Like Mr Philip Snowden, Piitain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Scullii met with an accident in his youth winch perhaps helped to shape the course of his life. Realising that

he coiiid not engage in hard work, lie sought a lighter occupation. While toiling at manual tasks he raved a little im-rey, and when he entered man’s estate lie purchased a small grocery business. Ho-wevor, he soon fouml this was not his groov? so he went hack to his studies with the amhitior of becoming a lawyer While still nursing an intention to h oak in upon tiic law the urge if politics fell upon him. When lie lost his seat in Parliament in 1913 he became managing editor of the “Ballarat Echo.” an evenin' 1 journal published in Victoria as the official organ of the Labour pity

MODERATE VIEWS. Elected as the Federal member for Varra in sncee-uou to tlui 'at' I .* Air Tudor—a former Minister of Custom*—Mr Sculliu swiftly demonstrated liis caoacitv to take a prominent part in the councils of the Lnboim movement.. He became deputy-lend-er to Mr Charlton, and when the latter retired he succeeded to the leadership. All tlmt was in him he put into his job. Among the captains of the Ti-hour party none has shown greater enthusiasm. His second fight as a leader put him on top. He is a. man of moderate views, believing that a democracy can come into its own hv, the steady process of evolution rather than the swift and devastating methods of revolution. No one need have any apprehension about the destiny of Australia in the hands of James Scu’lin. _ The tusk which confronts him is a difficult 01m. He will apply himself to it with all the equipment at his command.