GUIDING HEADS OF THE WORLD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 496, 27 October 1928, Page 17

GUIDING HEADS OF THE WORLD

■=y MONG the leaders j| o£ the nations tojlj notable figures of fill the war period and 111 others who have j] since that turmoil. Britain's Prime Minister. Mr- Stanley Baldwin, was iiardly heard of during those years of [rjj6i though he had represented pewdley in Parliament since 1908. jj j9 choice as Prime Minister was a jurprise. He had been Chancellor o( tbe Exchequer between 1922 and • 5;3, and, earlier, President of the Board of Trade. On the retirement of Sonar Law in 1923 he became Prime Minister, but resigned on his government being defeated in 1924. the General Election late in that • ear, a Conservative Government was formed, with Mr. Baldwin as its head. Se was chosen against powerful rivals. His age is 60. The Liberal Government in Canada is lead by Mr. W. L. Mackenzie King, m experienced statesman. He served i„ Sir Wilfred Laurier's Ministry, 1909-11. as Minister of Labour. He became Prime Minister on the defeat ot Mr. A. Meigheu in December, 1921; Out in 1 the General Election of 1925 he received a severe setback, losing his own seat. Elected again in February. 1926, he resigned the Prime Ministership in June, but following a general Election in September he was returned to office. In South Africa, the reins of power are held by General J. B. Hertzog, leade- of the Nationalist Party. His opponent in politics is General Smuts. Hertzog commanded the Boer forces ot the South-western division in the South African war. 1899-1902. He was Minister of Justice in the first Union Cabinet 1910-12, and has been Prime Minister since 1924. In the midst ot strong independence talk of late, he has shown himself to be more satisiied with South Africa remaining loyal io Britain and a unit of the Empire. Coming nearer home, we have Mr. Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia, who is facing with lonfldence a General Election. He is ibe youngest of the leaders, being only 44 years of age. After war service, be entered the Australian Parliament to 1918 at a by-election. He was Commonwealth Treasurer in Mr. Hughes’s Cabinet after September, 1921, and succeeded his leader as Prime Minister to February, 1923. Our own Mr. Coates, also on the threshold of a General Election, is 50 years of age. He was first elected by Kaipara to Parliament In 1911. He served with distinction in the war. He was Minister of Justice and Post-master-General in the Massey Cabinet, and later had charge of the Public Works and Railway Departments. He succeeded Mr. Massey as Prime Minister in May. 1925. He was made a Privy Councillor in January, 1926. Shrewd Leader Britain's strongest rival as a world force, the United States of America, has as its administrative chief President Calvin Coolidge—“ Cautious Cal.,” 'mall town lawyer at the beginning, but now metamorphosed into a shrewd and cautious President. He is 56 years of age. America has thrived during his leadership. In fact, the prosperity cry is one of the strongest arguments of his Republican Party, and probably it will put Mr. H. C. Hoover into power as next President, Mr. Coolidge having chosen not to run for President in 1928. Italy these days commands attention as a power to be reckoned with. Signor Benito Mussolini, strong dictator and bold, is the force behind this progress. He is probably the most spectacular figure in international affairs to-day. Indeed, he has been described as the strongest world figure since Napoleon. He is indefatigable—a very tiger for work, as indicated by his sheaf of portfolios. Raymond Poincare, President of France throughout the war years, is now its Prime Minister. He is 68 years '•* age. He was a courageous President in France’s dark time of crisis, is loved • his people, and respected as a statesman by men of other nations. Always he has stood for the fullest possible amends by Germany for war damage.

Germany’s Chancellor Herr Hermann Mueller, Chancellor '• Germany, has come into the limelight lately through the Rhineland evacuation discussions. He was Chancellor for a few months during the Kapp revolt, and succeeded, during the last few days of June, in forming a coalition Government. He has a reputation of great political experience, and as a dexterous tactician. He is the Gertoan Socialist leader. Baron Giichi Tanaka 13 the strong Man of Japan. He has had an anxious time up till lately, with an unruly neighbour like China. But China herself now seems to be settling down to •-ome sort of peace under the Nationalists, who have elected as leader -Marshal Chiang Kai-shek. Hungary, separated from Austria in 4918. has as Prime Minister Count -Stephen Bethlen de Bethlen, a descendant of Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania. He is 55 years of age. bring the Bolshevik revolution he tfas one of the chief organisers of na'onal resistance, and headed countere^°Ju ‘ionary movements at Szeged UU" Vienna. The Chancellor of Austria 13 Ignaz Seipel. who is 52 years old, pUu 'eader of the Christian Social urtv. He was a member of the last Cabinet. A broken betrothal and simmerings 3 revolution in Spain have brought s dictator, Lieutenant-General Primo p Hivera y Orbaneja, Marquis de Stella, and Grandee of Spain, well ~ tore Public eye lately. He took jus job on in 1925, and since then tif 8 fully Hved up to his title of dictar - He is 58 years old. ■tonkheer Dr. D. J. de Geer, same age de Rivera, is President of the CounjJ* of Ministers of the Netherlands. 0 is a Doctor of Laws and Political ‘Srience. Burgomaster of Arnheim 920 to 1922, he became Minister 0. Finance the following year, and - Ulster of Agriculture and of the Interior in 1925. 'M ■ enri Jaspar. Belgian Prime a l niß t? r and Minister of Colonies, is ,I.'“ 33 years of age, and belongs to e Catholic Party. —L.M.A.

Prune Ministers, Presidents And a Dictator or Two... Group of Men Who Control Destinies of Leading Nations.

(SEW YORK -TIMES" PHOTOS.)