A METEORIC RISE.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1920, Page 10

A METEORIC RISE.

SIR AUCKLAND GEDDES. The meteoric rise -of the Gcddes brothers from comparative obscurity to the dizziest 'heights of power and emolument in the service of the Empire is one of those strange phenomena which the Great War has rendered possible. Sir Auckland Geddes, whose appointment as Ambassador at Washington is now announced, was, at the latter end of 1914 a private soldier in the Canadian forces, with behind him a record of scholastic service as professor of anatomy at Edinburgh, and later at M'Gill University, Montreal. He got his commission in due course, did a few months' service in the trendies in Flanders, was wounded, and reappeared holding a very important military appointment. A few months later lie came into public prominence as Lord Derby's lieutenant in a strenuous recruiting campaign. Then the great world of politics caught him in its vortex, and he rose at once, and as if by magic to ministerial rank. He was, in succession, Minister of National Service, President of the Local Government Board, Minister of Reconstruction, and President of the Board of Trade.

The strange thing about this wonderful career was that Sir Auckland Geddes regarded it all as fa mere temporary phase. He was pledged, he frequently declared, to return to his duties as principal of M'Gill University, and merely lingered on the public stage, from month to month, at the earnest solicitations of Mr. Lloyd George, who found continually new tasks to 'be attempted. There seemed 'no doubt in the mind of Sir Auckland Geddes that it was a much more dignified and worthy thing to be president of M'Gill University than a Minister of the Crown, but apparently his little Welsh taskmaster has not yet finished with' him. Sir Auokland will be a little nearer his beloved Montreal when he reaches Washington, and it may be that at last he will attain his ambition and rale once more the destinies of the University of M'Gill. The post is kept open for him, foi- Professor Geddes was extraordinarily prescient when he took the position. It was stipulated in hi 3 engagement, some years prior to 1914, that he should be free to join his Majesty's forces if war broke out, and that his position should remain open to him so long as he remained "in ,jhi« Majesty's service." From that service he has not yet been released. Sir Auckland Geddes is married to an American lady, a daughter of the, late Mr. W. A. Ross, of Staten Island, New York.