MR CHURCHILL

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3275, 14 June 1943, Page 7

MR CHURCHILL

LEADER OF PEOPLE PRIME MINISTER’S LIFE ADDRESS AT FARMERS’ UNION At the annual Auckland Provincial conference of tho New Zealand Farmers’ Union, held in Auckland recently, the provincial president referred to the war and suggested that of all the remarkable incidents and happenings in a crowded years the most noteworthy was the clear demonstration of a mystery —the mystery of leadership. What are the qualities of leadership? asked the president. Mr Winston Churchill has emerged as a truly great leader, but if we examine his career there appears little or no indications of this' latent power.

Born in a famous family and descendant. of the first Duke of Marlborough, he had an undistinguished career > at Harrow School, after which he 1 scraped through Sandhurst, and was 1 gazetted as a subaltern officer in the ; 16th Lancers. In that capacity he ’ took part in the last cavalry charge—--3 at the battle of Omdurman. With the return of peace after the campaign ; in the Sudan he retired from the ’ Army and took up journalism. It was as a war correspondent for one of ' the London newspapers that he. went ' out to South Africa, during the seeJ ond Boer War. Whilst there the L small British force that he was with . was surrounded by a large contingent of the enemy, and after a stiff fight, , with all ammunition exhausted and no prospect of succour, he, with Die remnants of the British, was taken prisoner. Field-Marshal Smuts With the attacking Boer force was a young junior officer named Jan Smuts, who is qow a Field-Marshal in the British Army and Premier of South Africa. After a. dramatic escape from the status of prisoner of war, Churchill returned t° England, and, tiring of journalism, took to politics. During the succeeding years he had a chequered career in the House of Commons, crossing the floor of the House no less than three times and holding. Ministerial offices in both Conservative and Liberal adminihti ations. He has written a number of books, has painted pictures of somemerit, and has qualified as an »marenr bricklayer. If Churchill had died when he was in the fifties, a true epitaph might have included the words erratic, unstable, unorthodox, unpredictable, versatile. In short, a jack of all trades and master of none. In the most critical hour of the' nation’s history, however, the Prime Minister of Great . Britain at that time, Mr Neville Chamberlain, realis ing that the burden on his shoulders was more than he could carry, resigned his office. As the last desperate act a despairing and- positively heartbroken man, he advised the King to entrust the Government to Winston Churchill. The King did so, and Churchill immediately stepped into the breach. He was-promptly elected to the leadership of the Conservative Party and also received the support of the Liberal Party and the Labour Party. A little later he received the wholehearted support of the powerful Trades Unions and the Trades Union Congress. Blood and. Tears, Toil and Sweat He had made no facile promises to secure this support. On the contrary, he said: “All I can offer you is blood and tears, toil and sweat.” Then came disaster after disaster, until the United Kingdom stood alone in all the world faced with the triumphant, might of the armies, navies and air forces of Germany and Italy. Not only alone, but absolutley defenceless. With the British Navy guarding the seven seas and scattered round the world, the British Army after Dunkirk, disorganised and disarmed, and a mere handful of fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force as a sole means of defence, history and any nation would surely have condoned the seeking of terms from the enemy before facing the certain destruction of cities like Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff. Swanson, Liverpool, Coventry and London, and the slaughter of tens of thousands of women and children. Instead of taking what some won’d have described as a realistic action, Churchill merely hurled defiance at the enemv and announced that the people would fight, ’if necessary, in the streets and in thp houses. The people cheered his defiance. Disaster after Disaster 1

A great leader and a great people. Still disaster followed disaster, but the people still followed Churchill.

T.'nt'er!'' we have s°en how he has captured the imagination of the people

of the United States, and it would not be surprising if, in time, he captures in like manner the imaginations of the people of our other great allies, Russia and China. Of what, then, does this quality of leadership consist? It has the appearance of a disc with an obverse and a reverse side, leader and followers, but the nature and quality of the leadership in this particular ease appears to be quite inexplicable by ordinary human reasoning. A wise old man of my acquaintance, continued the speaker, when faced with this poser, replied: “It is the

Hand of the Almighty. There is no possible human explanation.” I agree. And if you accept that premise we can only conclude that the preservation of the British Empire—or Commonwealth of Nations, if you prefer that term —is part of a- great Divine purpose. But I would point out that the Almighty seems to work, only through human instruments, and we have to play bur part in blood, tears, toil and sweat if that purpose is to be fulfilled.

The quality of leadership remains a mystery, and we may believe'that in this case it is also miraculous.