The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, MAX 22, 1929. AN IDOL OF SCOTLAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 669, 22 May 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, MAX 22, 1929. AN IDOL OF SCOTLAND

THE first time I ever saw Lord Rosebery was in Edinburgh when I was a student, and I flung a clod of earth at him. He was a peer; those were my polities. I missed him, and 1 have heard a good many journalists say since then that lie is a difficult man to hit.” So. in callow days, wrote J. M. Barrie in his wisp of a book, “An Edinburgh Eleven.” This brochure whimsically revealed a canny chiel’s notes on and pencil portraits of a notable team oE a great statesman and ten other famous scholars and men whose humdrum ways were roads to fame. It was written at atJ me when the “Uncrowned King of Scotland” was nearing the zenith of a brief but brilliant political power. He was then, as it were, ascending a Jacob’s ladder of radiant popularity to meet the angels descending, and probably neither he nor the nation that idolised him realised that soon, much too soon, a favoured man of destiny would have to descend to earth and he done with visions. Those halcyon days in British statesmanship were forty years ago; and yesterday, more than half a lifetime later, the only man, save Gladstone, who “could make Scotsmen take politics as if it were the Highland Fling” disappeared into the final mist. Such sorrow as there will he at his death in the evening of his long day must be the sharp regret of reflection and remembrance. A new generation, surfeited with poorer politics and disillusioned by cheaper statesmen, knows but little of the Scottish peer whose name once symbolised the glory of perfect oratory and moved as with the magic of music a phlegmatic race to ardent praise. For many years past the ringing voice has been silent, while the man himself became as a crippled phantom in a sylvan retreat. Time can work many sad transformations. But the older generation throughout the Empire the noble Earl loved will remember with pride and with something of the glow of former but not forgotten admiration the winsome, _ magnetic attractiveness of the statesman and the effulgence of his achievement. In noting the quiet passing of Lord Rosebery, it might well be said that, with the sole exception of Earl Balfour, the last of the patricians in British politics has gone. A new and a terrible race of politicians now grimaces upon the stage, usurping the places of statesmen who could breathe life into the dust of politics and build up an Empire as easily as they could. shoot grouse. For in no sense could the late Lord Rosebery at his best or even at his worst, for he was variable in mood and inspiration, be compared with the great men who speak loudest in these days of loud speakers. Lloyd George, Stanley Baldwin, William Morris Hughes and many others who need not be named, might have gained prominence in booing Rosebery, hut none of them could have won the same delirium of joy that always was the reward of Scotland’s idol, though he also had feet of clay. There was a time when the Earl of Rosebery was as essential at a Burns anniversary dinner as haggis, whisky and the sangs of “Rantin,’ Rovin’ Robin.” Who that heard him address the Edinburgh undergraduates on “Patriotism,” or his impassioned reply in the same town to Chamberlain’s famous hour-glass speech on the eve of the Boer War, could forget the power of the man and his charm ? And yet, with all his gifts, he became nothing more or better than a, brilliant failure. It is true that he fulfilled his Etonian and perhaps apocryphal prophecy that he would achieve his boyish ambition to marry the richest heiress in the kingdom, to win the Derby, and to become Prime Minister of England. He gained the goals of his exuberant desires, hut somehow these failed to complete the high promise of his early career in the affairs of nations. It has been observed that there was a time when Lord Rosebery would have reformed the House of Lords to a site nearer Newmarket. He loved horses and had a quick sense of humour. These do not always run well together in politics. They occasionally tempt a man to back the wrong horse and say the wrong thing. His greatest service to the State was during his term of office as Foreign Secretary. The French liked him and Bismarck shot partridges with him. And Lord Rosebery also turned his hand to literature, but again failed to be anything more than brilliant. His worst handicap was that capricious gift vaguely known as temperament. It betrayed him in the end into brooding retirement. A great man who could not master his greatness. A DOCTOR’S DIAGNOSIS WHEN Dr. E. B. Gunson has had longer experience of local bodies, he will learn that the method of direct attack: employed by him yesterday is not usually the one that pays best. More politic under the curious conditions of local government is the method of delicate approach and subtle persuasion. Naturally there was fierce indignation among the hoard members at the suggestion that the “Wallace policy” dominated the hoard. Since Dr. Gunson is the only new member, each of the others took his statement as a personal affront, and the chairman actually ordered him to withdraw, though on such obscure grounds that it is obvious Mr. Wallace’s susceptibilities are a, good deal keener than his knowledge of what legitimate criticism, permits. Whether or not it is specifically true that Mr. Wallace dominates the board, the fact remains that he has been the most powerful influence in its counsels; and when the sequel to those counsels is a proposal as dangerous as that to plant an infectious diseases block within a stone’s throw of the existing mass of buildings, it is inevitable that Mr. Wallace should he invited to bear the brunt of criticism. How the medical profession in the city has been estranged by the board’s policy is revealed by Dr. Gunson’s statement that he accepted nomination at the instigation of his medical colleagues. It is therefore reasonable to assume that expert judgment is behind-Dr. Gunson in his crusade, and though there is no more case for domination of the board by medical men than there is for domination by Mr. Wallace or anyone else, the weight and character of the opinion opposed to it requires the board to promote its future policy with care. Mr. Wallace defends his attitude with reference to the large body of support that has returned him from time to time at the head of the poll, but this, while a recognition of his personal popularity and of his benevolent efforts over a long period of years, is not precisely an endorsement of his policy. Dr. Gunson was ill-advised to threaten that he would refuse to serve on committees. All members of the hoard have a responsibility toward the sub-committees, and the public would be disappointed to see Dr. Gunson refusing to serve on the committees because he has suffered a check at the start of his campaign. In the fulness of time his influence with other members will no doubt widen, and in the case of the infectious diseases block, at least, he has a definite mandate to follow up his charge. The doctor’s diagnosis of the hospital board’s trouble was certainly right, even if his treatment was slightly at fault.