Empire Administrator

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 206, 19 November 1927, Page 8

Empire Administrator

Dominions’ Secretary of State

The Man and His Merits

IF one were called upon to epitomise in a phrase the secret and success of the Rt. Hon. Leopold Stennett Amery's career in politics and Empire service the reply, in polite and perfect goodwill, would have to be: “Abraham and his seed for ever l” The Secretary of State for the Dominions is a Devonian Jew, born at Gorakhpur, in the North-west Province of India. He is 54 years old, but looks a little older without suggesting any lack or loss of youthful vigour. This deceptive appearance is due to the build and features of Great Britain’s most alert administrator. He is a wee man with a curiously wrinkled face, and looks more like the rider of a Derby winner than a progressive statesman who, entering the field of politics late, soon rode over the political laggards.

JNDEED, there are fewer earlier j birds in politics than Mr. Amery. | And he knows the right kind of early] political worms to look for and cap-1 ture. The Dominions’ Secretary will ar- j rive at Auckland on Monday from Sydney in continuation of his Empire

tour as an ambassador of Imperial politics and trade. Together with Mrs. Amery and his party, he is assured of a pleasant welcome. Of course, Mr. Amery is not a strai>

ger to New Zealand. Years ago he made a host of friends during a questing visit as a member of a British Parliamentary Empire touring party. As a distinguished journalist he would enjoy the oddity of a newspaper’s misinterpretation of his odd name. When the impressions of that party were first broadcast throughout the country a South Island daily journal referred to Mr. Amery as “Mr. Leopold Stennett, a merry member of the party.” He had not then gained the political fame that convinces sub-editors. Knocking At The Door It cannot be said that the great administrator of to-day was a long time on the way to notable success. His advancement in the crowded field of Empire politics has been rapid. It is true that he did not find it easy to enter the field. Twenty years ago he tried to win a seat in the House of Commons, but was rejected in a manner that might well have daunted a less persistent man. He contested East Wolverhampton as a Unionist Tariff Reformer, and suffered a heavy defeat. The majority against him was nearly 3,000 votes. The little man tried again at a by-election two years later, and reduced the adverse margin to eight votes. This was encouraging. So, in 1910, at the first election that year in Great Britain, he again “bobbed up serenely” only to be knocked down once more. A similar fate overtook him at the second election the same year. Finally, early in 1911, South Birmingham accepted him without opposition as its representative in Parliament. The wise electorate apparently realised that a man who makes mountaineering his main recreation must, in time, among the crags of politics, climb high. A Recruiting Sergeant

Following on the declaration of war, Mr. Amery, the politician, became Captain Amery, the soldier. Before obtaining his commission with the

14th Royal Warwicks, however, he had organised the Birmingham recruiting organisation within a few days after the outbreak of hostilities. This was so successful in its efficiency of system that it caught the quick eye of Lord Kitchener, who asked Mr. Amery to organise recruiting on similar lines at once throughout the South and West of England. This, also, was a triumph of organisation. In October 1914, Captain Amery fared forth to Flanders and there served in the retreat in the First Battle of Ypres. Later he was sent to the Near East where his special knowledge of the languages and politics of that region was of the highest service. He was sent on special service to Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Greece, the Dardanelles, Egypt and Palestine. Escape From the Germans When Mr. Lloyd George’s Government came into power, the little man of Wales remembered the little man of Birmingham. Captain Amery was recalled to England for War Cabinet service. This introduced him to a thrilling experience. The ship in which he was travelling homeward was torpedoed by a German submarine. The Germans took prisoner all the officers they could find, but Captain Amery managed to escape by hiding in the stern of the boat. There are occasions when to be little is to be spared to become great. From November 1917 to the Peace Conference at Versailles the soldiersecretary, now a Lieutenant-Colonel, was attached to the Imperial War Cabinet, ultimately doing splendid work as Political Secretary of the British Section of the Inter-Allied Supreme War Council at Versailles. At the Victory Election in December 1918 Colonel Amery was returned by an immense majority for the new Sparkbrook Division of Birmingham. This was really the beginning of his great administrative career. First, as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, then as Dominions Secretary he promoted the establishment of a new self-governing constitution in Malta, the negotiation, at Ottawa, of the preferential trade agreement between Canada and the West Indies, the initiation and development of Empire co-operation in migration and land settlement. And to-day he is a managing director of the world’s greatest Empire, a trusted statesman, a Privy Councillor. A Scholar and His Lady As a scholar, journalist and author, Mr. Amery has a distinguished record of achievement. He was on the editorial staff of "The Times” from 1899 to 1909, organised that journal’s correspondence in South Africa, and edited its History of the South African War. His other publications include “Fundamental Fallacies of Free Trade,” “The Great Question,” and “Union and Strength.” He is not an orator, but speaks clearly, simply and effectively as every politician should or forever hold his tongue. Naturally, as a leading member of the Baldwin Cabinet, he has to be a pastmaster of the art of saying a great deal without being too definite as to the details of policy. A pleasant, brisk, well-informed man whom the folks of all the Dominions are delighted to honour. While men are looking to Mr. Amery for a lead in politics as affecting the Empire, the women of New Zealand should hasten to meet Mrs. Amery. She is one of London’s most charming hostesses as well as her clever husband’s best counsellor.