TO VISIT DUNEDIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26622, 19 November 1947, Page 6

TO VISIT DUNEDIN

LORD BEVERIDGE FIRST DE CARLE LECTURER UNIVERSITY INVITATION ACCEPTED Among the distinguished ihen to visit Dunedin during centennial year will be Lord Beveridge, author of the social security plan for Britain, and au outstanding economist, scholar, and writer. Lord Beveridge has accepted the invitation of the ' Otago University Council to come to Dunedin next year as the first de Carle lecturer of the University. The date of his visit has still to be arranged. Lord Beveridge was created th’e first Baron of Tuggal last year largely m recognition of his contribution to the social welfare of the people of Britain. He has had a distinguished academic career, and during his period in the House of Commons as member for Berwick-on-Tweed he contributed much to the progressive legislation the day. Apart from his famous “Beveridge Plan,” which brought him to the forefront in Britain, he has held such important posts as president of the Royal Economic Society since 1940.

president of the Royal Statistical Suciety, senator of London University, director of the London School of Economics from 1919 to 1937, a member of the Royal Commission on Coal in 1925, chairman of the Unemployment Insurance Statutory Committee from 1934 to 1944, and chairman of the important Interdepartmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services in 1941-42.

.Lord Beveridge, who holds several university and honorary degrees, has been a prolific writer on a variety of subjects. He is 68 years of age. A London journalist gives the following pen picture of Lord Beveridge:—-

“ His features fit his faculties. The erect, long-backed head tells you of his power of assimilation. The broad, fine forehead explains his ability for impromptu ‘ dictation ’ —an art somewhere between literature and oratory, in which it is difficult to believe' that even Mr Churchill is his superior. The grey eyes and fighter’s chin give yon the born leader, to whom the opportunity of taking big decisions on his own initiative is the breath of life ‘ Outside the office ’ he is the softesthearted, the gayest of men. But work has always been sacred, and those whose neglect or relative slowness hold up his dynamic progress pay a penalty which leaves on many weaker vessels a permanent scar.”