A COMING MAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 136, 4 December 1911, Page 4

A COMING MAN.

Every notable achievement in progress in whatever country is the result of intellectual application. ?fo one "blunders to success," and although higher, education is of no service if it has not a capable intellect to work on, where it is absorbed by men capable of using it, it gives us leaders. It is a catastrophe for people of high intelligence to be unable to persuade intellectual men to help manage their public affairs, and it is comparatively rare -to find men with the requisite gifts to shine in politics who will consent to devote their time to it. There is no question that trained tninds are even more necessary to-day than ever, and that the application of yigorous intellects to national problems is a prime essential to progress and success. Our representatives in Parliament are supposed td reflect our minds and in a great degree to lead our thoughts. Of Ja.te : years the highly educated men have hot appealed in vain to the people who recognise' thtft the business of the counrv should be in the'ablest hands. Mr. P. O'Dea, M.A., who is a candidate for the Pa tea seat, will not, should he be elected, go to the House to grope. He jis a young man of 30 who has persistently fought'"Upwards and achieved what pie has sought for.- He was a State 'school boy Who vigorously applied the .excellent elementary teaching given by .the State and who in 1889 won the Wanganui Education Board's senior [scholarship and b«cam,e a teacher, being appointed at the early agp of, 18 to the headmastership of the Fitzherbert East School (Palmerston North). His (last appointment was to the headmastership of the Patea High School, he having ,in 1003 succeeds*! in obtaining his B.A. .degree and his M.A..degree <a year later, ,'with honors in political science. He I subsequently achieved the L.L.B. degree. was admitted as a barrister and isolicitor in 1908, and commenced practice in Hawera in 1900. His desire for public 'work, for which lie has shown, so much laptness, was shown by his election to a : S eat on the Wanganui Education Board, j after he had been, beaten 'by Mr. Dixon Iby 188 to 157 -votes. In WlO he was ! elected unopposed to the Education 'Board. Qualifications such as are dis•closed in a short review of Mr.' O'Dea's ! career become an asset' to & 'in>&n who ' aspires to hold important public posi- | tions, and they go to show that Mr. • O'Dea has the intellectual persistence so very necessary, not only in everyday J life, but in political life also. By the i way things are shaping in connection ' with his condidature the opportunity of displaying his talents -in the political arena is not very far off.