W.C. BUCHANAN, M.H.R.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4199, 23 August 1892, Page 2

W.C. BUCHANAN, M.H.R.

. . . for thou hast been As ono, in suffering nil that suffers noth-

ing; A man that fortune's buffets and rewards Has la'eti with equal kindness, —Shakespeare. Thia is the story of a Scot, If he had lived on the Border in the fifteenth century he would hare harried the Souihrons and raided their cuttle. As it is he flourishes in the last tleondn of the tame nineteenth century, and breeds, not steals,sheep and fat beasts. But, Great dcott I what a border cattle-lifter he would have made, to be sure I For this man, who has been buffeted and.is now rewarded, by fortune this wiry, undistinguished man, has energy untireable, the staunchness of the bulldog, the persistence of the sleuth-hound. He takes hard work when other men take medicine, Bnd laughs at laborious days, Yet those who judge a man by bis clothes, his watch-chain, the stiffness of his collars and the size of the brilliant in bis ring, wouldn't look twice at W. C. Buouanan. Of medium height, with featnresrngged and weather-scarred, with blue eyes thrithave been scorched by many suns and blurred by many sleets, and gaze steadily out at the world from beneath shaggy brows; without frill, actual or metaphorical, clad in plain tweed, and constitutionally unable to rise to the burden of the dignity of a stovepipe hat, there is absolutely nothing gaudy about him. At first sight he might betaken for an engine-driver in his "best togs," lor a pilot, or for a sailing ship skipper of the ancient rcjt'ntj, Yet, if you regard the man and not bis clothes, you will mark that he has that' indiscribable look in the eyes wbioh those have only who have been accustomed to look often at danger, with probable death on the other side —railway men, soldiers, and Bailors have this expression. So much for the mere outside, When W. C, Buchanan speaks, then, if you know anything, you will.know he is a gentleman by birth and education, and the longer he is known the plainer become the evidences of his gentle breeding. But be is not "genteel." In a genteel era lot us thank heaven for that! . After these encomiums stern truth oompelsthoaddition thatMr W.O, Buchanan is a" Social Pest." He is, in other words, a successful squatter. Thereisquitelofty authority forasserting that successful squatters are necessarily Social Prate, It hasnover been authoritatively stated that became dishonestly by his run or stole the sheep and cattle upon it, Though, had he lived in the fifteenth century, be might, of course, have done so. There i 3, however, a'legend that before he arrived at bis present deplorable status he drove oattle, punohed bullocks, split rails, and even tended sheep. Unostentatious as a private citizen there is nothing startlinglj ornamental about him as a legislator, save his phenomenal capacity for that legislative drudgery to which little hoarse glory attaches, Nor is ho ot any time loquacious, When he conceives he has something to say be says it, As, however, his jaws are the only portions of his anatomy not limber, ho nover speaks unless he oan add something to the sum of general knowledge, Even then he fires off no fireworks, only in revenge for the difficulty with which he gets his words out, he snaps off their tails before permitting them to finally depart, Notwithstanding, his addresses to his constituents and 1 -some of his speeches in the House bristle with caatMron tacts, unadornod by a single flower of rhetoric or one dab of Brummagem gold paint; As far as the Wellington district is concerned, Mr Buchanan may bo said to be the father oi the frozen meat industry—also its sister and itß cousin and its aunt. He takes flying little jauntsup and down the universe in the interests of that well-beloved trade, A short while since he just stepped over to South America; and now he has run back from Europe, where he went ostensibly for hiß health, but really for the 6ake.of the mutton that is fat and stiff and frozen, Though a thorough man of the world and a firstchop business man, Mr Buchanan has muoh of that shyness which may be mistaken by strangers for unapproacbableness, In point of fact, man more modest, genial, or kindnatured never lived. He is, moreover, one of those fortunate and highlyendowed Scotchmen who oan comprehend a joke, after it has been properly and exhausti\oly explained to bim, without undergoing the traditional surgical operation, Of course be may at some prior period have been operated upon. At any rate, he can laugh, He has played life's game to win. He has won, There is no shadow of dishonour on that winning. True man from the crown of a baldish bead to the sole of an unhandsome boot, Would to Hoaven that New Zealand had a fow thousand more like him I —Cbristchurch Press,