THE MASTER OF THE SITUATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9996, 17 March 1910, Page 3

THE MASTER OF THE SITUATION.

MR JOHN KKDMOND.

| (By Frank Dilnot, in the "London Dally Mail.") ]

A silent man. square-faced and keen eyed, sat Wi the last Parliament at the end of one of the benches on the Opposition side halfway down the House. He surveyed the Liberal host opposite conscious that his day would come. Chief of the Irish Nationalists, Mr John Redmond had gathered his eighty men around him, as a leader must who would have his force in readiness to intervene at the right moment. Tc-day he must be surveying the political field with a certain satisfaction. There is every indication that when he again groups his followers round him below the gangway he will be able to regard the house with the knowledge that for the moment he is master of the situation. He can keep a Government in power; he can lurn it out when he pleases. Mr John Redmond has made himself a power by steady, persistent work, an iron will, an unflinching devotion to ihe cause which he considers right. The son of an Irish member of Parliament, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was afterwards called to the English and the Irish bar. He became a clerk in the Vote Office of the House of Commons, but he gave this up in 1881 to represent a constituency in his native country. Elected for New Koss he left the Vote Office to take his ,place on the floor of the House. He began with a record, for on his first day at Westminster he made his maiden speech, created a scene, and was suspended before the clock struck twelve. He was in the twenties then. Now his feelings are just as passionate but his methods are,more effective.

MR REDMOND, THE LEADER. From the day he entered Parliament Mr Redmond has always been a prominent figure in the Nationalist Party. His chance came at the Parnell split. He stood by Purnell, led the little party which remained faithful to him, and finally was selected to guide the destinies of the Nationalists as a whole. This is no easy task at the best of times, and the way Mr Redmond has hel J his followers together in spite uf sectional strife is a tribute to his power not only as a politician but as a leader of men. Banish from your mind, in thinking of Mr Redmond, the picture of the carelessly dressed, merry Irishman with a strong brogue and a merry quip and jest for any situation. Here is a stern man between fifty and sixty years of age, thick set, perfectly dressed, carrying himself always with the dignity of a Gladstone. Mr Redmond is an imposing figure when he makes a speech, for he carries the grand air of the statesmen of the past generation. He has few gestures. Standing in his place without a movement of the body, he hurls fierce condemnation at his confessed opponents, plan warnings verging on threates at the Liberal, and scornful contempt on back bench members on either side who have made speeches i.i opposition to him. His face ex presses more than the most violent of gestures. It is the picture of hard wrath. His eyes seem actually to roll with anger. His favourite word "Forsooth!" 13 thrown at Ministers and sx Ministers in a way which mieht well frighten a man unused to the treatment.

Mr Redmond is one of the inos 1 ; serious men in the House. I have not heard him make a joke in the cuurse of his speeches during the past three years. Always in hia place, he gives one the impression of maintaining a somewhat aloof relationship to the men he leads—a fact which may have something to do with his authority over them He sits in bis corner seat, arms folded across his breast, gloomily alert. Rarely is he moved to ainile. Witty gibes by his compatriots will sometimes lighten his face, but pi asantries from the Government or Opposition benches do not shake his indifference.' He gives one the impression of being a very stern person, who regard 3 these English jokes as waste of time. Unlike many of hia followers, he speaks but seldom. THE SECRET OF HIS POWER. It is this impenetrable self restraint which has helped Mr Redmond to attain his present powers. He organises, he directs, he controls. He is a master of parliamentary j strategy. He knows how to play the ! waiting game, but he has not wasted

the time he has spent in waiting. Many years he haa utilised in moulding his impulsive and high-spirited party into a united whole lucking forward to the opportunity which time was sure to bring. True, he has struck incidental blows and struck them shrewdly. He has demonstrated that perhaps beyond any other leader in the House he knows who to make the best of opportunity, when toremain silent, when to move. All the responsible members of the House knew that when Mr Redmond was saying least he was as mucli to be reckoned with as v/hen he was uttering grave warnings from below the gangway. The House of Commons likes Mr Redmond. He comes of good stock, and even in his fiercest moods one. does not forget that tie is a.i Irish gentleman. He hits hard in cebatc, but he is always courteous, always tactful, and dignified. Organisation and opportunity have been the two things in hia mind for a generation past. >!ow his hand is on his sword.