NATIONAL LEADERS: Sir Andrew Duncan

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 62, 30 August 1940, Page 3

NATIONAL LEADERS: Sir Andrew Duncan

R ‘ANDREW DUNCAN, President of the Board of Trade, is one of the many successful Scots in the Churchill Government. The son of a social worker, he worked first as a schoolmaster, but only so that he could use his salary to pay for his legal education. From law he progressed to industry and the first outward signs of a brilliant career. His first "big" job was secretary to the Shipbuilding Employers’ Federation, when it moved from Scotland to London during the last war. When he later became secretary of the Merchant Shipbuilding Advisory Committee and joint-secretary of the Admiralty Shipbuilding Council he attracted the attention of Lloyd George, Birkenhead, and Bonat Law. He has remained in the public eye ever since. At the age of 35 he was appointed Coal Controller after the war and he had a difficult time switching the mines back from State to private control. While he did this immense work he also qualified for the Bar. After unsuccessfully standing for two Parliamentary seats, he gave up the idea and went to Canada on a Royal Commission to straighten out the coal industry there. The Canadians liked him, and asked him to stay on to settle more of their difficulties, which he did. On his return to England he became chairman of the Central Electricity Board and a director of the Bank of England-and one who asked questions.

When this war broke out Sir Andrew became chairman of the Munitions Board and then President of the Board of Trade, surviving the change of Government from Chamberlain to Chure chill. His success is said to be due to his ability to pick the "right boys" and to bring about the mixing of all elements while remaining a burly, dour Scot. He and his wife and their two sons go to church regularly, and live very simply. Sir Andrew is 56, was knighted in 1921 and given the G.B.E. in 1938.