MR NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 June 1938, Page 8

MR NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN

What is the British Prime Minister like to meet? asks Sir Charles Petrie, writing in the “Windsor Magazine.” That must be the thought of tens of thousands who are familial' with his photograph. The first impression is that of a man very alert mentally, and physically ten years younger than his age of 69. Quiet in manner, he does not attempt to dominate a conversation, but the observations he makes are all to the point. There is no trace of that pomposity and condescension which mark not a few politicians. Yet he rarely discusses a subject upon which he cannot throw some fresh light, and his whole attitude reveals the ordered mind. He can focus his brain with lightning rapidity, and, without appearing to do so, he can bring the best out of thfe person with whom he is conversing. Probably the chief impression produced by Mr Chamberlain upon one who has not met him before is his truly remarkable skill in going to the root of any problem which he is discussing. He seems to do this almost by instinct, whether or not he has any previous knowledge of the subject under discussion. If ever there was a man who could “cut the cackle and come to the ’osses,” it is he. It is the practical aspect of a question that appeals to him, and he has no use for the theorists who are divorced from reality. He can in a few sentences strip a problem of all that is incidental, so that in a minute or two one is down to its basic facts, but he never makes the mistake, not uncommon in Englishmen, of assuming that an analysis is a remedy.