ALLIED LEADERS (17): Sir John Anderson

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 39, 21 March 1940, Page 2

ALLIED LEADERS (17): Sir John Anderson

defence service is Sir John Anderson, P.C., G.C.B., G.C.LE., K.C.B., C.B., Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security. He is a Scot, son of a publisher, and ended his school days at Leipzig and Edinburgh Universities. man behind the British civil

Sir John is the man behind the British evacuation schemes. He commandeered the railways before war broke out, and saw to the issue of gas masks and air raid shelters. Now 57 years of age, he entered the Colonial Office at 23. He has refused only one of many big jobsthat of chairman to Imperial Airways. Every other job undertaken by him has been a success, despite much criticism. He is the man who was sent to work out fair schemes to give land to the natives of Nigeria and currency to West Africans. He was knighted for his work as secretary to the Ministry of Shipping during the last war. When the worst of the terrorist disturbances in Bengal was at its height he was made governor and escaped death three times. One of the men who fired point-blank at him, but missed, was afterwards reprieved by Sir John and became a student in London. He has worked for Vickers and became interested in explosives; he has held important posts with the Midland Bank and Imperial Chemicals Ltd. This man, who is slow in speech but swift in thought, says that he began life behind a bowl of Edinburgh porridge. He is a keen billiards player and a great gardener, but his greatest interest is his only daughter, Mary. ’