A Federal Notability.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 258, 30 November 1903, Page 4

A Federal Notability.

MR G. H. REID. An excellent pen-portrait of Mr G, H, Reid as a public speaker is given in the Argus 'by a clergyman who heard him deliver an address at the Melbourne Town Hall recently. This is how the leading politician of New South Wales is •described : "I'm not a politician—l'm a preacher— but I was told that to seeund hear Mr Redd would be an education for me, so from the moment his shining head appeared above the platform steps I watched with great eagerness to see what, manner of man he is, what he would do, and how he would do it, hi order to account, if possible, for his extraordinary power and popularity for our teachers tell that in platform work of any kind everything depends upon the appearance, methods, and Style of the speaker. But what first impressed me, I think, was fl» nlltoiguess of the man. Mr Reid is' a big man physically, and everything a!bout him seemed to correspond well willr his physique. He is evidently big mentally ; his ideas are big, and his out-look world-wide. His speech that • night was Much as one would expect from such a man—the speech of a man who sees the whole, and will not .sacrifice the whole for a part. He was for ever callilng us away from the local to the national —from the national to the international aspect'of things. I know of no way lo describe his method of getting en to the platform " other than to say he 'rolled' on—rolled up to the edge, beamed benvolently on the cheering crowd, and then rolled, apparently exhausted, into' a capacious arm-chair. He does not even sit down in the orthodox way. There is no graceful parting of the coattails, and that delilx-ra'teness in sitting which is so marked a characteristic of your ordinary platform maw, There is just one measured glance to see that all is clear, then he falls backward and downward. Mr Reid does not bow to his a-udi-ente as other and smaller men do He .simply beams on the people ; but it is such a big, good iiatured beam that everybody feels at once at home and happy. No disrespect , s meant, and none taken. It jV ] us way, and people appear to know it. When he came forward to spc-uK he stood quite motionless, his arms hung limply, by his sides as though they weie merely fastened on the putside of his coat, and he had no control over them. To heighten this effect, his thumbs reached Just to Iris trousers pockets, where ' they were hooked in at the corners as though to keep his arms from swaying about. At the beginning' qf jiis address he spoke with a drawl, and in a kind of sing-song style 'thai would drive a master of elocution mad ; and one was not surprised to hear some wit shout, 'Sing it, George !' Yet he is a master of elocution second to none, and very soon everybody knew and felt it. Whence or how it came about I cannot tell, but this I know—the magic of that speech speedily worked in our midst some charm from which we were powerless to escape. Soon a great "silence reigned, and friend and foe alike were jjent forward,, eagerly listening for every word that fell from his lips. A man leant over me and whisper 3d, 'He's got 'twn !'—meaning the crowd. ' Got 'em' he cprtainly had—gripped to himself by bppks pf eloquent words —and, whatjs more, he kept 'pm to the end,"