TWO STRONG MEN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 20 July 1907, Page 4

TWO STRONG MEN.

AUSTRALIA'S LEADERS. INTERESTING SKETCHES. THE PREMIER. i ruder the heading "The Strong .Men of the Conference," the London Daily Mail publishes the following interesting' sketch of Mr Deakin:—

Hie tall, vigorous frame, the darkly bearded'face, and the intent eves of the Australian statesman reveal "a subtle mixture ( if idealist and of practical man of affairs Here is an orator with a mind steeped m historic and literary lore, and quick to place himself in touch and sympathy with any gat boring. As a speaker, Alfred fieakiu ever touches the upper heights. During this visit he has brought home to thousands who have heard him at dillevent meetings, the renewed consciousness of our great racial destinies and responsibility. He not only has dreams „f a 1,,.,,,,,. C 1„ , ll|Kl(] hp works very practically to make his dreams a reality. From the time when nsa lad m his twenties, he apparently mined his political career for a eonsci-entious-soiiiple. he has ever held his ideals hi ß h. H,. is a convinced democrat an unswerving Imperialist, and a believer in the necessity of keeping the racial purity of the white man unimpaired.

The methods of Australian and English official circles are so opposite that ome differences were inevitable when .he two tried to work together. In Australia the Minister rules over hi= department actually as well as nominally. In England the permanent official is the real controlling force. In Australia precedent and red-tape count for very little; here thev are often the be-all and the end-all. The fact that a thing is new makes it here an object of suspicion, ami we consider long over my change, lest it should be accompanied by some unsuspected daii"ers. Australia believes that only by making 3xperiments and taking Home risks can the race move forward. Officialdom here has never fully emerged from the Crown colony stage; it still subconsciously regards the man of Greater Britain as a younger son, to be petted and patronised, and led by a wise and strong Motherland ilong the right path. The colonial has a very shrewd idea that he has at least is good an idea of the best way ahead is have those who stay at home. HIS THREE MAIN OBJECTS. Mr Deakin arrived iu London with three main plans. He desired that the lffairs of the Empire should be openly liscussed in the conference, so that all .uight know and follow them, lie wish"(l to create an Imperial Council, which diould be the nucleus for future federation. He had a mandate from his people to offer England t««de reciprocity. The demand for publicity was the vital point in fixing the policy and real use fulness of the conference. If the colonial statesmen were to talk frankly and in he face of the nation about their differ•nces much might be done to mould public opinion here. AVitl'i full publicity, he Conference would become the meet-•ng-place of sister nations; without it, it .vould be nothing but a gathering of high ifficials. Realising this, Mr Deakin, in his first speech, pleaded earnestly that :he proceedings should be open. He has idvucated the same thing ever since. The wretched compromise arrived at has satisfied nobody. The imperfect, occasionally inaccurate, sometimes belated, ind always strictly edited official statements of the proceedings issued have wen a very mockery of publicity. If Mr Deakin did not succeed in securing the appointment of an Imperial -'ouncil. as he asked yet as an outcome

}f his motion the Conference' was made ,iennanent, to meet every four years, the title was changed from Colonial to Imperial, the Prime .Minister of England jwas made president, and a permanent I secretarial staff appointed. This is an enormous step forward iu Imperial relations, ns the coming years will show. I Mr Deakin's offer.' on behalf of Australia, of trade preference was rejected, is everyone knew that it would be. his

rreat argument in favor of it was made before a group of home officials pledged .o oppose his scheme. The official Yc-

'.lorls of his speech were so presented as to prevent the full effect of it from bong attained in the country. There has been some misunderstanding here about '.he reasons for Australian rescnlwient n-er this matter. The Australians ad-

nit that this country has just as much •ight to decide oil its' fiscal 'policy as has my other part of tho Empire.' They ire hurt, not because their p'an was rejected, not because it was practically recused consideration. A FOREGONE CONCLUSION.

Another niemljer of the Conference, not Mr Ueakin. thus described tile feelin" of the colonies: "We realised that we \vere '.alkiug to people who liiid absohitoly naile up their minds licTore a word had >cen saiil. There was no endeavor (u meet us, or to sec if we could be met in any wi>y. The home authorities hail •mw over it nil before, and therefore, •chile they must listen, nothing we eou.'d ■how would hiive any efTect." Happily illiciahlom has not the last word here. " Th.' hard at the Conference this year has not been thrown away. It has been pioneer work. When .Mr Dcakin comes back again—as we all hope he will -lour years hence, he will find a .Conference conducted under very dilfereiit condition*, thanks largely to his battle now. There will be full publicity. He will plead no longer before a small group, but in the ears of a nation. The Conference will be less a great social function and n.ore an affair of real administrative busin -s. The colonics, with ever-grow-ing power, will make t l . -ir voices heard

'till more loudly and with still more authority. Those who know the conditions under which y\r Deakiu ami his colleagues have done their work marvel at what they have accomplished. From the very hour of his arrival he lias been torn by a thousand distractions. From early morning until late at night ever-changing groups of people have waited in his suite of rooms at the Hotel Cecil for a word with him. Three secretaries have had the hardest work to keep pace with his correspondence. The banquets and receptions arranged in his honor, kindly as they were intended, have been so niime'rous as to be a real plague. On some days he has had to make as many as six speeches, and they have all been.fresh and thought-provoking. The real work hero, the Conference, has been swallowed ii]nii the other things.

The social side has reached the point of absurdity, ill' Deakiu makes no secret of the fact that he expects the next Conference to be one with few, if any, banquets, no London season, and no exterior distractions... His people want to have the business of the Empire conductled promptly and well. They have sent us one to do their work for them who has won our affection for himself and our increased confidence for the great Commonwealth over which he presides.

[The over-strain and hard work involved at the Conference have had their j effects on Air Deakiu, who is now laid aside, and ordered complete rest by his .medical advisers.]

JOHN WATSON. (By •■F.R." in the Lone Hand.) A very fowei- of strength to those of little faith in human nature is such a man as John Christian Watson. As he Mauds to-day- bis politics hated bv many people, himself hated by none: with no whisper of a crime, a folly, or even a meanness against his name;' an acknowledged equal among the learned, though he never knew a sehoolhouse in his boyhood; simple and unaffected among a thousand flatterers: gentle and of dignity, though "jiisl a working man" Watson is at once a splendid proclamation for the essential good of our human nature, since such great qualities can be, and for the line freedom of our Australian social syslcm, since they can be recognised and rewarded with the highest pnzes „f citizenship. Hard to say which is the "renter matter for congratulation, that .such good qualities should be, or that they should get from all sides such generous recognition. "STRAIfJHT." •I. C. Walson is not merely the hero of his own class or his own party. Throughout tin- Commonwealth (here 'is hardly a man who does lint confess to an admiration of the Labor leader. I 'an recall, when the first Deakiu Ministry had abandoned office, hazarding the opinion in a Melbourne Club that .T. C. Watson would he ''sent for" bv (he Gov-cinor-ficnci-al. The company' was Conservative, and f expected sonic words of dismay. Rut there was none. The feeling of those around was expressed bv one "!d paMoralist: "Well, dial would be all right. Mr Walson is an honest man. and Mr. Tf. now. he would take in with him Mr Allan Sl'Lcnn. and one or two others who understand (he country, if would be all right." The speaker knew little of politics—could not see the inipossiliilily of a Watson-M'Lean alliance—but his testimony to Watson's character was

none the less valuable. It represented the general public feeling in the Commonwealth, that Watson is "straight." -Nor is it because of any failure to tight his strongest and best for the in "the enemy's" camp, lie is the keenest of party men. and in respect of his Labor-political principles, absolutely tin- I i.uiiproivislng. At any tiu.c within | the last five years he might have served ; his own ambition, and secured a reason- i able programme of democratic reform, | by leaving the ranks of the Lahurites. ! Always his face has been set steadily against such proposals, however specious their gui»e. Those who know him best assert that if ever Watson had to leave the Labor party (and once it was made clear to him that the Labor- party had set its face iu the wrong direction, Watson would be forced by his own character to leave it), he would abandon public life. And I know that on occasions offers have come to him, which ranged exactly with his dear wishes, and which

he might have accepted without the i me.tiKst caviller being able* to allege ' a suspicion of dishonor, and have been sturdilv set aside because of a high sense ] of his dutv to the Labor party. i KEYNOTE OF HIS CHARACTER. | "Duty" is. I take it, the keynote of ' .1. C. Watson's character. A few months ; ago. when the invitation reached him to j go to England, and take part in the Im- ! perial Conference there, the prospect was full of allurements. The trip offered a rest that his health needed; a wel- > come opportunity of explaining to the . British people what he holds to be the i ideal aims of the Labor movement in i Australia; a chance (which must have i tilled with eager longing the plough boy who had become Prime Minister) of seeing the great world beyond Australia. But, at .the last niomeut, it was clear to him that he could not go without some small neglect of duty—a neglect which most men would very easily compound with their consciences. Watson did uot go, and spoke with sunny cheerfulness of "another chance," though knowing well the uncertainty of such a chance coming again. This sunny cheerfulness is the feature noticeable of Watson in company. When he Is alone his face is rather sad (as Norman Carter's portrait shows with insight). You may come upon him as though brooding on— The thorne which grow upon this rose of lifeHow the swart peasant, sweated for his wage. Toiling for leave to live. But it is of his philosophy that man owes to his neighbor a bright word: and he is to others never morose, nor vexed. A public servant who has been in close contact with all (lie great public men of Australia gives to Watson alone the palm of always being "good tempered."

HUMAN FOIBLES. So far specified, then, a man of unblemished character, of notable truthfulness and steadfastness to duty, of exquisite courtesy, and there seems to bo shaping a portrait of someone too perfect for our faliible nature. But Watson has his own little human foibles. He is a very keen bridge player (plays with some skill and wonderful good temper), and often wastes an hour at the card table which the Perfect Prior would devote to reading about the degeneration of man; he smokes; he drinks—beer, wine, spirits, iu strict moderation; he can be beguiled into singing, though his voice is untrained; and, in one or two other respects, is < mere human being like the rest of us. Watson has no pose. lie does not aim to be a statue of himself raised by public subscription. He stands naturally upright, sagacious, common-sensible, with an ingrained tendency to the right, and a real friendliness to humanity: a man of the Washington type, with more amiability, though a lesser opportunity.