The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, April 21, 1910. SIR GEORGE REID.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 829, 21 April 1910, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, April 21, 1910. SIR GEORGE REID.

Thk Westminster Review contains an article on Sir George Reid, the first High Commissioner in Eondon for the Commonwealth of Australia. The writer describes him as essentially a Free Trader, and traces this as the “leit-motiv” through the windings of his course. In conclusion there is a short sketch of Sir George Reid as a man :—“Short, and yet weighing over eighteen stone, his circularity of figu.e is, if anything, enhanced by the eyeglass which he has made as much his own trademark as Mr Chamberlain has in England, As a speaker, Sir George is at his very best when addressing a popular audience. His wit, broad and homely, is never above the heads of his audience, and he simply revels in interruptions. Instances without number of his power of repartee might be quoted. The following example is typical. He was once in Western Australia, when the local Premier, playing upon the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne, twitted him somewhat as follows : “ It’s a strange fact, Mr Reid, that we get intelligent men from Victoria, but we never seem to get any but lunatics from Sydney. Don't you think it very extraordinary?” “Not in the least, ■fir, not in the least,” replied Mr Reid (as he then was) at once. ■ No one but a lunatic would over

think of leaving Sydney for Western Australia.’’ Sir George Reid, in a word, is an ideal popular politician, and (may it be added ?) has been a godsend to the caricaturist and the advertiser of patent food-stuffs. The fact, too, that Sir George has a fund of kindly nature has been not a little in his favour. An interrupter once broke in upon Sir George Reid in the mid d of his saying tWai Australia la : never produced a statesman of really first-class ability \ b, ‘ Hew about you, George ?’ ‘ Well,’ he answered, ‘ I think I come as near the real thing as anybody else.’ ”