Nothing Forbidding About Fowlds

NZ Truth, Issue 1180, 12 July 1928, Page 6

Nothing Forbidding About Fowlds

WAXING sarcastic, a Labor M.P. once asserted- that there were so many knights floating about Parliament Buildings that he bumped into one m every corridor. But he will not be waylaid m the sacred precincts of the House by the Dominion's newest knight. » Not that Sir George Fowlds is any stranger to Parliament, for he had an unbroken run for many years as a Queen City representative. A Liberal of the Seddon regime, he was later elevated by Sir Joseph Ward .to Cabinet rank. As Minister of Education, he trod the rocky path between bureaucracy and popular control, without losing his balance. Fowlds had no new-fangled notions about short cuts to knowledge. A canny Scot, he naturally parcelled out the Education Vote m the spread of education for the multitude, rather than m grandiose avenues of culture for the select. The close of his career as Minister was his dramatic exit from a barque of State which had begun to strain and leak very ominously. A matter of principle with the conscientious George, but it spelt the end of his political career, for he lost his seat to John Payne — that irrepressible member who warned the House that six o'clock closing was futile as a war-winning measure, as the Kaiser would be sure to meet the challenge by closing all pubs; m Germany at 5.30. No need to ask how Sir George stands on six o'clock closing. He doesn t believe m opening at all; and, if a man be thirsty m summer, there are millions of. gallons of clear, sparkling water m countless rills and brooks to be quaffed at will. Prominent m the N.Z. Alliance, he firmly believes m the efficacy of cold water m its undiluted form. A Scot from the dour hills and valleys of Ayrshire, he belongs to that übiquitous race which is stamped on every community m the Empire. Not that there is anything dour or forbidding about Sir George. A seriousminded Scot, he has also a graceful and genial personality. He springs from a line of long-livers, for his sturdy dad made a score of one hundred against the man with the reaper. He is an enthusiast m the Rotary movement, that curious company m which even knights are slapped on the back by mere acquaintances and called plain "Bill" or "George." \