CHAPTER V THE GOVERNOR-GENERALO, A MOST punctilious, prompt and copious correspondent was Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson, who presided over the Govern- ment of the Commonwealth from 1914 to 1920. His tall. perpendicular script was familiar to a host of friends in many countries, and his official letters to His Majesty the King and the four Secretaries of State during his period-Mr. Lewis Harcourt, Mr. Walter Long,2 Mr. Bonar Law3 and Lord hlilner'-would, if printed, fill several substantial volumes. His habit was to write even the longest letters with his own hand, for he had served his apprenticeship to official life in the Foreign Office at a period when the typewriter was still a new-fangled invention. He rarely dictated correspondence, but he kept typed copies of all important letters, and, being bq nature and training extremely orderly, filed them in classified, docketed packets. He was disturbed if a paper got out of its proper place. He wrote to Sir John Quick! part author oi Quick and Garran's well-known commentary on the Com- monwealth Constitution, warning him that the documents relating to the , printed as a parliamentary paper on the 8th of October, 1914, were arranged in the wrong order. Such a fault, or anything like slovenliness or negligence in the transaction and record of official business, brought forth a gentle, but quite significant, reproof. In respect to business method, the Governor-General was one of the best trained public servants in the Commonwealth during the war years. - - 'This chapter is based upon the Novar papers at Raith. 'Rt. Hon. Viscount Long. President of Local Govt. Board, 19oo/5, 1915/16. Secretary of State for Colonies, 1916/18; First Lord of Admiralty, 1919/z1. 0; Rood Ashton, Troubridge, Wiltshire; b. Bath, 13 July, 18~4. Died, a6 Sept., 1914. * Rt. Hon. A. Bonar Law. Secretary of State for Colonies, 1915/16; Chancellor Df Exchequer, 1916/18; Lord Privy Seal, I~I~/ZI,Prime hlinister, 19aa/a3. B. New Brunswick, 16 Sept., 1838. Died 30 Oct, 1913. 'Viscount Milner. K.G., G.C.B., G C.M.G. Governor of Cape Colony, 1897/1901. of Transvaal and Orange River Colony, 19o1/5, meniber of British War Cabinet, 1916/18; Secretary of State for War, 1918. for Colonies, 1919/a1. B. Germanv (of British parents), a3 March, 1854. Died 13 May, ~gaj. "on. Sir John Quick, M.L.A., , 1880/8g; member of C'wealth House of Reps, 19o1/13; Poctmaster-General, i909/in: Deputv Precident. C'wealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, 19aa/3o. Of , Vic.. b. Trweasa Farm, St. [ves, Cornwall, Eng., 14 April, 1851. Died 17 June, 1932.

168 1914-18] THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL IbY

Among the non-official correspondents of the Governor- General were Lord Rosebery: his old chief and always his intimate friend ; Sir Cecil Spring-Rice,‘ the British Ambassador at Washington, for whom he cherished a warm affection; and Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, formerly President of the United States of America, a friend of many years’ standing. The numerous letters from Lord Rosebery during the war years were preserved in a special sealed packet. Spring-Rice was one of the most brilliant exponents of the epistolary art in his generation, as the two volumes of his published corre- spondence show; and the occasional receipt of a letter from him at Government House, , must have been a glad event. The Governor-General invited Theodore Roosevelt to visit Australia in 1915 and see for himself how a young nation was responding to the call to arms; but the reply from Oyster Bay to “My dear Ronald” revealed the prophet of

‘I the strenuous life ” in a mood of depression, born of disgust with the American attitude towards the war and contempt for what appeared to him to be the evasive dialectic subtleties of President Woodrow Wilson. He did not wish to go anywhere; he was weary and sick at heart. The official correspondence was designed to give the King, or the Secretary of State, a picture of the Australian political scene, the disposition of parties, the parliamentary situation, the state of popurar feeling, the military prospects, together with cool judgments upon financial and commercial aspects. Sir Ronald travelled in every State of the Commonwealth, and had a happy faculty for genial intercourse with all sorts and conditions of men. The former provost of Kirkcaldv had learnt to be “a good mixer.” He could, by his sym- pathetic attitude and good huniour, draw people out. If he was sometimes bored he never showed it to those with whom he talked; and people who could tell him about their lives and labours on farms and sheep stations, in forests and mines, or wherever the work of the country was being done, were not the kind to weary his responsive nature. Indeed, the only instance of fatigue mentioned in Sir Ronald’s

~~ ~~ 0 Rt. Hon. the Earl of Rosebery, K.G., K.T. Prime Minister of Great Britain, 1894/5. B. 7 May, 1847. Died ar May, 1929. ’Rt. Hon. Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, G.C.M.G., G.C V 0. British Ambassador to U.S.A. 1913/18. Of London; b London, 27 Feb., 1859 Died 14 Feb., 1918. 170 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR [I914-18 extensive correspondence occurs in a record of his relations, not with ordinary people, who always interested him, but with a State Governor whose “conversation is like the Dee in spate,” and after a devastating evening with whom the Governor-General “ slept for seventeen hours on end.” It was customary, when he travelled, for him to be accompanied by members of Parliament for the constituencies wherein he had made engagements; and he was always especially pleased to make their acquaintance, and through them to learn not only their political views, but also what they had to tell about local industries, the trials of pioneering in wild country, and the lives of the people. He thus came to understand that in very many instances Australian public men have an extensive experience of life, and that there is often a great difference between the (‘ fire eater ” of Parliament and the platform, and the genial, breezy, anecdotal companion of the smoking room. Thirty years in the House of Commons, also, together with special experience as a party , had given Sir Ronald an intimate knowledge of the parliamentary mind. He had to handle a series of political crises probably as difficult as have ever faced a representative of the Crown in the Dominions; but there was never an occasion when his independence of judgment was at fault or when his decisions were fairly challengeable. The passion of parties surged in angry breakers, but the Governor-General stood steadily above the storms. He wrote as he talked, with an easy, free flow, enlivened often with flashes of humour and pointed with apt allusions. A good story which came to his ears was most likely to be passed on to Buckingham Palace or Downing Street. His comment (August, 1915) upon the extravagance of the States at a time when the stress of war should have called a halt to reckless expenditure: was accompanied by a whimsical reminder that the Federal Government was far from blameless on the same count :-

“ The Federal Government preaches economy to the States (as well as to the private citizen, who is far more thrifty than his masters) and comparatively speaking it has been until recently in a position to do so. To-day, however, when there is a question of the reduction of the I9I4-ISl THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 171

pay lists at Canberra, for P.O. buildings and other things, its attitude is that of the gentleman asked by a fellow guest to help him to his feet after dinner: ‘ No, I can’t do that, but just to show my friendship for you I will lie down beside you.‘ There can be no doubt now that our participation in Imperial loans accounts in part for the continued extravagance of all these seven govern- ments, and that but for the supply of ready money, the need for economy would have been better realised.” For the Australian people as a whole he maintained a warm, though critical, admiration, which was expressed in several of his official letters. The following estimates were both written in IgI4:

“ The practical side of the Australian character comes out in their mobilisation, and will be apparent in the prosecution of the war. Being also extremely adaptable, they quickly seize on every device that suggests itself for accomplishing desirable ends, and will not, I imagine, stick at any rule-of-thumb procedure to achieve their purpose.” And again:

“ Happy-go-lucky methods are typical of this people. They pursue them with a grasp of the realities,‘ an astuteness and energy which are not without success in politics but are excessively disconcerting in war time.”

I1 The Governor-General worked with three Prime Ministers -Mr. Cook, Mr. Fisher and Mr. Hughes-and with Senator Pearce and Blr. Watt as Acting Prime Ministers during the two visits of Mr. Hughes to Europe. The other ministers with whom he came in closest contact were Mr. Tudor, Sir William Irvine, and Sir , with all of whom he worked on the friendliest terms. Mr. Fisher he esteemed as a man who- “played with all his cards on the talde, and according to his own fixed rules. He was absorbed in his own opinions, which are unchangeable. Nevertheless, such is 1 72 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR [I91547

his honesty and public spirit that it is always a pleasure to confer with him as a friend, and as a minister it was often useful to do so.” When Mr. Fisher became High Commissioner, the Governor-General wrote : ‘I In personal character he stands so high as to be a real loss to our public life. He takes a little knowing before one appreciates to the full the worth of his honesty, courage, and public spirit.” And again: “A most honourable, upright man, and a good judge of men. He has sterling worth, but none of the ornamental gifts and graces of Sir George Reid.”8 Sir William Irvine was esteemed by the Governor-General as :

(( carrying weight through sheer integrity, capacity, and force of character. He has more the mind of a statesman than anyone else in Australia, and though he may occa- sionally take the high hand, as when he suggested to me in private that the Imperial Parliament might very properly have decreed conscription after its defeat by referendum, which involved his exclusion from this Government, there is no public mail who so often hits the right nail on the head.” (February, 1917.) For Sir John Forrest, as (‘ a most gallant old gentleman,” whose record as an Australian explorer was hardly less dis- tinguished than his political career as a State Premier and Federal Minister, the Governor-General had an admiration which he frequently expressed in his correspondence. But Sir John’s ambitions towards the close of his life were some- what troublesome and marked by intrigue. At one time he aspired to be appointed Governor of . When that opportunity slipped away he fixed his gaze upon the Prime Ministership of the Commonwealth. The Governor- General wrote (zrst February, 1917) : “He has given a deal of trouble lately, for he is old, and would dearly love to be Prime Minister. Consequently he has been very difficult to satisfy. . . There is, of Rt. Hon. Sir Gorge Reid G.C.B.. C C.M G. .Premier of N.S.Wales. 18-94/99; Prime Minister of Australia, ’1904/5: High Commissioner foi Australia in London, I~IO/IS; Member of House of Commons, 1916/18. B. Johnstone, Renfrewshirc Scotland, 25 Feb.. 1845. Died ia Sept., 1918. 1917-18] THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 173

course, no more loyal Australian than Sir John, nor one who enjoys more popularity, especially among the well-to-do classes. His following are known as ‘the Dinner Party.’ ” Sir John’s eminent services were sufficient to warrant any honours being conferred upon him-and that he appreciated the decorative symbols of distinction he frankly confessed. But it was apparent to well-informed observers of the political scene that no considerable party desired to see him at the head of the Government. His persistency in pushing his claims, as much perhaps as his undoubted attainments, induced the Governor-General to throw out the suggestion in the proper quarter, that, should His Majesty the King be disposed to grant a peerage in Australia as had been done in Canada and South Africa, there was no man upon whom it could more appropriately be conferred than Sir John Forrest. The suggestion was favourably received, and a few months later Sir John was gazetted as Lord Forrest of Bunbury. He was then suffering from the painful disease which ran its fatal course before the new peer could wear his robes and take his seat in the House of Lords. The Governor-General reported (11th March, 1918) :

“ No kindlier recognition of great service could have been given than this peerage. His Majesty would have been touched to witness the quiet satisfaction with which the gallant old Sir John received, in the midst of suffering, the news of His Majesty’s gracious act. Her Excellency and I gave it to him in his sick room.” Even then, with characteristic tenacity, Lord Forrest was not disposed to surrender his place in the Commonwealth Cabinet. It was clear to all except himself that he could not recover, but he maintained that he would. To his colleagues, however much they esteemed him, he was no longer fit to control the Treasury. The Prime Minister invited the Governor-General to speak to Lord Forrest on the question of his resignation, “ but this he declined to do, though anxious that Lord Forrest should resign.” The painful fact that he had reached the end of the tether was, however, at length brought home to the veteran leader, and he resigned, to be succeeded at the Treasury by hlr \Vatt. 174 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR [ 1918-20 Of the new Treasurer and acting Prime Minister the Governor-General wrote (28th May, 1918) :

“ Mr. Watt has good qualifications for the post. He is very able, has had considerable experience as State Premier, and has the further merit of being accessible, considerate, and diplomatic-so that if relations with him are less interesting than those with Mr. Hughes, they are in some respects more satisfactory. He has his party well in hand, the Opposition is very weak, and there is no reason to anticipate any immediate political crisis.” In another letter the Governor-General referred to Mr. Watt as ‘‘ next to Mr. Hughes the most able and practical of our public men.” Further experience of him drew from Sir Ronald the estimate (9th March, 1920) : “ Mr. Watt is quite one of the ablest of the Federal Ministers. He is generally represented in cartoons with the physiognomy of a burglar. But he has great merits, and is one of the most broadminded of our politicians. He understands business, and has a good grasp of tht financial and commercial situation. He is as casual in his methods as the ordinary run of ministers, and I have not always found it easy to secure an interview or obtain answers in correspondence. On the other hand, he is extremely reasonable and pleasant in discussion, and he can see both sides of the case. He is a careful Treasurer, arid 1 feel pretty sure that had he been at the Treasury during the early stages of the war, he would have im- posed war taxation at an earlier date, and made better provision for military expenditure.”

I11 With Mr. Hughes, the Governor-General’s relations were longer than with any other Australian Minister, and they were, from the beginning to the close, invariably friendly and inti- mate. There was deep sincerity in the acknowledgment which the Prime Minister made in a letter written in April, 1918: “You have been, in many a serious and trying crisis, a great help to me. Many times I should have thrown up the sponge, but for your advice, your sympathy, and the feeling that you believed in me.” 1914-181 THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 175

From the commencement of the Governor-General’s term of office, he had discerned certain qualities in Mr. Hughes, marking him as a leader capable of unusual energy, enthusiasm, and devotion to a cause calling for those gifts. He was “ always dauntless, cheery and patriotic to the core, while his clash and genius lend charm to a wild career.” I‘ I put my Welshman a bit above yours,” wrote Sir Ronald, “ having tried baith,’ as the dying father avowed in recom- mending honesty as the best policy to his heir.” Nevertheless, Mr. Hughes was not always an easy man to work with. He gathered into his own hands more depart- mental business than he could possibly manage efficiently, notwithstanding his immense driving power. “ In old corn mills,” the Governor-General commented, ‘I some stones ground :ough and dthers smooth, but in the Colonial mill, when the stones work at all, one may refuse to move, while the other races.” Mr. Hughes worked several mills, and wanted all the stones to race.

‘I In the course of Mr. Hughes’s struggle after efficiency, the Prime Minister’s Department became greatly en- larged, and it has become something of a maelstrom into which business from all departments is sucked and con- tinues to swirl round and round, seldom getting back again into the ordinary channels, where presumably it might be carried further.” A passage in another letter discussed the same charac- teristic : Hughes is certainly our best man, but his methods are those of Lord K. He does not know how to devolve responsibility and work, and, excellent as his influence is, he is too often unable to grapple with detail or overcome difficulties. His health is a terrible handicap, and the wonder is that he gets through with his work at all.” Another characteristic which often perplexed the Governor - General was Mr. Hughes’s secretiveness, even with those whom he thoroughly trusted : “He has all the arts of a crab. When he does not wish to be drawn, he withdraws within the impenetrable shell of his designs, or very literally disappears into space, and apparently neither gets nor answers letters.” 176 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR t 1916 And again, to another correspondent : ‘(Mr. Hughes is a curious combination of candour and secretiveness. I find it hard to get hold of him at times, but when I do he often pours out his soul, though

doubtless even then there are ( reservations.’ ” One of the occasions when Mr. Hughes “poured out his soul ” was on the eve of the first referendum, in circumstances which might have broken the spirit of the most hardened politician. The first Hughes Ministry had collapsed ; the parliamentary Labour party, which the Prime Minister himself had done so much to create, had broken away from him; he and his own band of followers were a party at a loose end; and some men who had been his most intimate friends throughout his public life were now his most bitter enemies. His political world seemed shattered as though by an earth- quake, and the ground still shook under his feet. Steel-cased though he might appear to the public eye, Mr. Hughes was indeed a sensitive human being, and in this crisis he turned to the Governor-General for the touch and voice of friendship. Sir Ronald was in residence at Admiralty House, Sydney. He had gone to bed. The telephone bell rang after 11 o’clock. The Prime Minister desired to speak with him. The Governor- General got up, dressed, summoned the launch, crossed the harbour, and found Mr. Hughes waiting for him in a taxi on the Quay; and there the two men sat and talked till the hum of traffic in the great city died down. Relating the incident to a friend in England, Sir Ronald, who was “ greatly touched,” said : “He apologised for hauling me out of bed by saying that he felt he must consult somebody, for he had not a brainwave left, and there was no one else with whom he could speak freely.” Yet with all his friendship for ‘( my little Prime Minister,” the Governor-General was always cautious when any con- stitutional question arose. The old guardsman remembered the difference between “ stand at ease ” and “ attention :” and was strict in the observance of his duty as the impartial representative of the Crown. In November, 1916,Mr. Hughes represented that his efforts to reconstruct the Government 19I6-191 THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 177 would be facilitated if he were in a position to hold the threat of a dissolution of the House of Representatives over recal- citrant members. The Governor-General declined to pledge himself ; he would reserve judgment as to whether a dissolution was justifiable until it was made clear that the existing Parliament could not provide a Government for the remainder of its normal life. In January, 1918,when Mr. Hughes resigned in conformity with his pledge, the Governor-General, before entrusting him with a fresh commission. was careful to sound the leaders of various sections in Parliament, to satisfy himself whether an alternative administration could be formed. The principle which he maintained in regard to all ministerial changes was the tried constitutional me that, in his own words, “the fate of governments depended entirely on their strength in the House of Representatives, and on the confidence felt in them by the representatives ~ elected to Parliament.” When it was pressed upon him by members of the Opposition that the Governor-General ought to insist upon the literal observance of Mr. Hughes’s famous pledge, his reply was that “the representative of the Crown was not the keeper of the Government’s conscience, and that the obligation that rested on him was to follow constitutional practice by taking cog- nisance only of the parliamentary situation and of the strength of parties in the House.” Mr. Hughes once described himself in a letter to the Governor-General as, “ if not the worst correspondent in the world, at any rate a very bad one.” His letters on important matters of public business were often mere crooked scrawls, evidently written in a great hurry, and only legible by a process of patient microscopic study aided by ingenious guesswork. But sometimes he was disposed to be more informative, especially when he had an amusing experience to describe. His letters during the Peace Conference frequently contained gusts of that humour which made him one of the brightest of companions. Writing from Paris in March, 1919,he said:

“ Paris to-day presents a spectacle unique in the history of our time. . . One sees everybody, Iaiks to everybody. . . . meeting in one day representatives, literally, of China 178 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR [1918-1y and Peru, Japan and Ariierica, Poland, Arabia, Czechs and Arabs, Italy, Greece, Brazil. It would cheer you tremendously to hear me making jokes in English, which, filtering through the joyous mentality of the French interpreters, ultimately make the Czechs and Arabs and Greeks laugh." The letter from the Prime Minister which the Governor- General most enjoyed, for obvious reasons, was one written from London in September, 1918, giving an account of Mr. Hughes's adventures among the polite negatives of West- minster :

" I do not know the name of that great, that illustrious man, who, first amongst the children of men, declared in accents of passionate pessimism (passionate pessimism is rather good) that ' Man proposes but God disposes '- but I entirely agree with him. " Here am I, feebly struggling in this devil of a spider's web, the weeks fly by, the months roll on, j'y suis et j'y reste. I make plans, the rude thumb of destiny smears their perfect lines into a hideous smudge. It is very sad! " My tuneful brethren-I allude to my distinguished colleagues from Canada, N.Z., and Newfoundland-all have fled, and I, longing to flee too, am still here. When am I corning back? Well, certainly not until I have sold our wheat, and lead, and copper, and butter, and tallow, and hides, and leather, and, and " When will that be? The good God only knows! Every day I bombard the enemy with high explosive, with shrapnel, with everything at my disposal. " I ask him why he does not buy our beautiful wheat, and tallow, &c. He says that he lives for just that purpose; that he has in fact consecrated his life to the job; he is for the Empire, and for our beautiful wheat, &c. But! Alas he can do nothing unless the Treasury agrees. Dam the Treasury! Well, I go and see the Treasury. They welcome me with open arms; they are unaffectedly glad to see me; they too want to buy our beautiful wheat, &c. But-the Inter-Allied Executive stands in the way1 Damn the Inter-Allied Executive! 19181 THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 179

I go and see them. They are the very salt of the earth, kindness oozes out of their every pore, benevolence, philanthropy, sit enthroned upon their noble brows. They want to buy our beautiful wheat. It is the best wheat in the world. Absolutely, you understand, the very best They must have it. But! They can do nothing without the Shipping Controller consents, or does something by which he will be hopelessly compromised. Damn the Shipping Controller! However, I go and see him. He is a Scot. May the good God be good to me! However, as I say. I go and see him. He receives me as if I were the Holy Grail, or Robert the Bruce, or Harry Lauder. He shakes me by the hand so impressively that I fear the worst. I am not mistaken. He wants to buy our beautiful wheat. It is, he says, with infinite pathos, absolutely the best wheat in the world. He feels sure we shall never win this cruel war unless the troops are fed up with this life-giving food from Australia's sunny isle. But! He can do nothing: the matter is in the hands of-The Treasury ! ! "Thus I pass laborious and fretful days, going round .and round like a clock-work mouse. However, I will sell the wheat, copper, lead, butter, tallow, hides, Erc. I must do so, for without money we cannot finance the war. " Do you know that the Australians have been fighting continuously-always on the aggressive-for over six months this year-that they were in the line all the year, most of them at all events-that they have taken of wounded prisonerso a greater number than their total casualties during the whole of this period-that they have not once during all this time been defeated? But perhaps you will say I write with the pen of a partisan. Perhaps I do, yet I write the truth. Indeed, less than the truth, for nothing that any man can write or say can fairly set forth the amazing, the glorious, story of these wonderful boys. " After a pitched battle with the War Office I managed to get the authorities to agree to home leave for the 1914 men. Then the trouble began. They could go if shipping- 0 There is probably a slip here; the prisoners-but not the wounded prisonere outnumbered the Australian casualties.

I4 1PO AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR 11918 accommodation could be obtained. Of course it could not. The Shipping Controller was very sorry, but he really could not provide transport. I saw the Minister. He was very sympathetic. They all are-always. He said he would speak to the Shipping Controller. My God! By God! &c., lama Sabactheni! I haven’t a Bible here, so I have improvised the spelling, but you will know what I am trying to say. He did speak to the S.C.! Hush ! we are on holy ground now ! You can guess what the S.C. said to the Minister, and what the Minister said to me; but you can’t guess what I said to the Minister! I said nothing! Just that. But I got the thing done! And I’m going to do some more things in the same way. “I hope God will help you to read this rambling scrawl. By the way, I saw the Colonial Secretary the other day, and we agreed that it would be a very serious thing indeed for the Empire if you left Australia before the war and its aftermath were out of the way. I tell everyone just what I think, that you have been a veritable gift from God to us in Australia during this great crisis.’’ IV In large measure, the success of the Governor-General in handling difiicult situations in a period of extraordinarily passionate politics, was his habit of thinking out carefully on paper the various alternatives. He wrote elaborate memoranda on all the important ministerial changes, and there was rarely an interview with a leading poiitician concerning a major issue: but was the subject of an aide-&moire. When such an inter- view was anticipated, he would sometimes write a kind of agenda of the points likely to be discussed, and what he judged his own duty to be. Thus, in connection with Mr. Hughes’s resignation in January, 1918, the Governor-General wrote a memorandum of six typed folio pages, setting forth in a few crisp paragraphs an exact stateiiieiit of the situation, and then considering (I) the possible courses open to the Prime Minister; (2) could a colleague of the Prime Minister form a Government? (3) if so, could Mr. Hughes be a member of it? (4) could the leader of the Opposition form a Goverir inent ? and (5) considerations which would arise if Mr. Tudor 1916-171 I HE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 181 were given a commission. By thus reasoning out to logical conclusions the several possibilities, he gave himself a valuable advantage in discussing with party leaders the proposals they put before him. He was ready at all points. The Governor-General did not conceal his dislike for any course being proposed to him which he had not had an opportunity of considering. A notable instance occurred in 1917, when Senator Ready resigned, and, by the rapid election of Mr. Earle as a Senator, the minority supporting the Government in the Senate was converted into a majority. Writing to the Secretary of State, he said:

‘I I was a little uneasy over the business, as savouring too much of a trick in which I did not wish to be involved. But it appears to be perfectly in order. . . . . I haw written to the Prime Minister that I must have one or two hours’ notice when he desires to see me on urgent and important business, also a note of the subject matter to be discussed, and an indication of the action proposed to be taken. He (Mr. Hughes) likes a dramatic situation and to bring off a coup de main.” Almost as surprising, though less objectionable to the Governor-General’s sense of political propriety, was the method of reconstituting the Government in November, 1916 after Mr. Hughes and his group of 23 supporters, left the oficial Labour Party. The scene was enacted late at night at Government House : “He informed me that he had a good prospect of Liberal support, a fact which he then and there put into writing, and that it was expedient that the names of the new Government should appear in the press the next morning-a moment rapidly approaching. It then transpired that Mr. Hughes had concealed his chosen followers in another part of the building, after the manner of A11 Baba, and that, their presence having been discovered by the military secretary, the clerk to the Executive Council and the Bibles were in readiness. Thus the New came into being.” A significant example of the Governor-General’s grasp of constitutional principles is presented by his action regarding 182 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR [ 1917-18 the re-commissioning of Mr. Hughes in January, 1918. Mr. Hughes had proposed to make the first public announcement of the event, not to Parliament, but just before a meeting of his parliamentary party. The Governor-General considered this course improper, and wrote to the Prime Minister (January 9th) : “I would strongly urge that the announcement be made in Parliament, and that for the following reasons. I have taken my stand on the absolute pre-eminence of Parliament, and on my inability to recognise party exigencies, or to have official cognisance of any happenings or utterances outside the parliamentary arena. Therefore, to allow Parliament to meet after a commission has been granted, and to allow it to remain in ignorance of this important fact, until a party meeting has been given the information, is to ignore the principle on which I acted in granting you a commission. I would therefore strongly advise that you make the announcement in Parliament, whose supremacy it has been my object to vindicate.’’ Mr. Hughes accordingly changed his plan, and made the announcement in Parliament. As the representative of the King within the Australian Commonwealth, the Governor-General’s duty was to keep His Majesty acquainted with the trend of events. He was assiduous in so doing. But an informant must himself be informed. Sometimes, amid excitement and rush of business, the Prime Minister omitted to communicate important decisions to Government House. A lapse of that nature occurred when the Cabinet in November, 1917, decided to take the second referendum on conscription. The Governor- General promptly wrote to Mr. Hughes pointing out that it was not proper that he should have to learn of a first-class matter of policy from the newspapers. Mr. Hughes lost no time in apologising. The oversight should not have occurred ; he was extremely sorry. Again, in April, T~TS,when the Prime Minister left Australia for London, no official infor- mation was sent to the Governor-General as to who was to be Acting Prime Minister. The newspaper announcements showed it to be probable that Mr. Watt woiild be chosen, but 1916-181 THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 183

the representative of the Crown should not have been left to learn from an unofficial source who his principal adviser was to be. Mr. Hughes was already in Sydney, about to embark, when he received a telegram (April 25th) : “ Have received no information as to who is to act in your absence.” Mr. Hughes replied on the same date: “ Mr. Watt will act during my absence.” Writing to the Secretary of State, Sir Ronald said:

“ Like the Chevalier Grammont, who forgot to marry the Hamilton sister, he (Mr. Hughes) forgot to tell me who was to be Acting Prime Minister, and so I, not liking these little forgetfulnesses, wired to Sydney for information, and wrote formally to the Cabinet, pointing out that such information shou!d have been furnished before the P.M. left the seat of Government. He wrote me an exceedingly nice letter before going on board.” A few lapses of this nature were due to forgetfulness or haste, but some Ministers held the mistaken view that the impartiality of the Governor-General was in some mysterious way safeguarded by keeping him in ignorance of Cabinet decisions. Sir Ronald did not agree. Not only was he intensely interested in Australian affairs, but he considered it an obligation to inform himself promptly and accurately in order that he might efficiently discharge his duty to the Crown. This point of view was explained in a letter of July, 1916: “Decisions have occasionally been taken in respect to policy or change of policy, sf which the G.G. became first aware through the medium of the press. He therefore took occasion to informally discuss with ministers con- stitutional procedure, and was listened to with respect. Ministers were evidently under the impression that it was their prime duty to safeguard the Crown, or its representative, against any suspicion of political bias, and that by not consulting him, or even informing him of their intentions, they were safeguarding his neutrality. I pointed out that the Crown was entitled by the custom of the Constitution to receive the fullest information as to the Government policy before it was made public, and of any change made in that policy after it had been approved.” ‘ 184 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR [I918 V At a meeting of the Imperial War Conference in July, 1918, the Australian Prime Minister moved a resolution which was unanimously adopted, providing that : “This Confereiice is of opinion that the development which has taken place in the relations between the United Kingdom and the Dominions, necessitates such a change in administrative arrangements and in the channels of communication between their Governments, as will bring them more directly in touch with each other; and that the Imperial War Cabinet be invited to give immediate consideration to the creation of suitable machinery for this purpose.” The Prime Minister of Canada, Sir Robert Borden,lo strongly supported his Australian colleague. The proposal appeared to involve two important changes: (I) that the Prime Minister of a dominion should be able to communicate directly with the British Government, ie., that such com- munications should not, as hitherto, be transmitted through the Governor-General; and (2) that the Prime Minister of a dominion should be able to have direct communication with the Prime Minister of Great Britain, i.e., without the inter- mediacy of the Colonial Office. Doubtless there were occasions during the war when dominion prime ministers became impatient because they did not receive immediate replies to their communications with Great Britain ; though the mover of the resolution could hardly, with a good conscience, have reproved anyone for lack of promptitude in correspondence. But every government department in Great Britain was working under high pressure, and the Prime Minister in particular laboured under a weight of responsibility and a multiplicity of duties greater, probably, than any head of an administration had ever previously borne. The Secretary of State, Mr. Long, though, as he cabled, “ in general accord with the need for some change as a result of the altered status of the Dominions consequent upon the war,” made it clear that the Government could not arrive at a conclusion upon Mr. Hughes’s proposal until the views of

“Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Borden, G C.M.G. Prime Minister of Canada. 1911/ao. Of Ottawa; b. Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. a6 June, 1854. Died IO June, 1937. 19181 THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 185 the Governors-General had been ascertained. At the same time, he was clear that it would be impossible for the Prime Minister of Great Britain to undertake the transaction of business with the dominions. He might be consulted on “ special and vital occasions,” but could not add substantially to the volume of work entailed upon him. Cable messages were sent to Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The replies showed that Sir Ronald Muxo- Ferguson, the South African Governor-General (Lard Buxtonll) , and the New Zealand Governor-General (Lord LiverpooP) were in agreement that the proposed change was undesirable. The Canadian Governor-General, the Duke of Devon~hire,’~was more nearly in accord with the views of his Prime Minister, and was disposed to allow the proposed change to be adopted without serious challenge. Sir Ronald replied to the Secretary of State in a long cable message, and, later, in a more fully reasoned memorandum. In his opinion it was undesirable to transfer dominion afkirs to the Prime Minister of Great Britain, whose chief concern was not administration but leadership and the management of a political party. The result would be to entangle dominion affairs with home politics. The existing arrangement ensured the consideration of dominion questions by a special minister who was not, as such, closely identified with party politics, and who could secure the consideration of special questions by the Cabinet. Further, the change would materially alter the status of the Governor-General, If he were no longer the channel of communication between the dominion government and that of Great Britain, he would lose prestige. He would not be kept informed of what was happening as between the two governments. He would have no opportunity of advising the Crown as to public opinion on questions dealt with in correspondence which he did not see, or as to circumstances bearing upon or qualifying the situation. The Governor- General should be in a position to give an impartial opinion

l1 Rt. Hon Earl Buxton. G.C.M.G. High Commissioner and Governor-Genera! of South Africa, 191q/ao. B. a5 Oct.. 1853. Died 15 Oct, 1934. Rt Hon. the Earl of Liverpool. C.C B , G.C.M G, G B E. h1 V 0. Governor. General of New Zealand, 191a/ao. Of Hartsbolme Hall, Lincoln, Eng.; b. Compton Place, Sussex, a7 hiay, 1870. ‘8 Rt Hon. the Duke of Dwonshire, R.G.. G C.M.G C C.V.O. Governor-General of Canada 1916/21* Secretary of State for Colonim: rpaa/aq. Of London, and Chatsworth: Derbyshk, Eng.; b. Devonshin House, London, 31 May, 1868. Died 6 Mar, r938. 186 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR t 1918 on the views of both political parties. He was the responsible informant of the Crown concerning the affairs of his dominion, and for this reason especially should know what was happening. This point he strongly emphasised in the following passage : “If a Governor-General ceases to be the channel of communications he will cease to be informed of projected policy by his government, he . . . will often be left in coniplete ignorance of what is passing between his own and the Home Government. As the Crown represents the chief link between the United Kingdom and the Dominions, and presents the only kind of security under the British Constitution for that continuous national policy on which so much depends, it does seem unfortunate that, at this juncture, the status of a Governor-General should be reduced to that of a British resident attached to a dominioil government and with less real power than a dominion minister attached to the Imperial Cabinet.” The Governor-General doubted whether the proposed change would economise in time or improve the service. But he threw out the suggestion that “ if Crown Colony adminis- tration were really separated from that of the dominions, and the latter administered from a separate department, while men having first-hand knowledge of the dominions were associated with its administration, objection to the present system would disappear.” The change did in fact lead to the establishment of a Dominions Department, under its own Minister, distinct from the Colonial Office; though the second part of the suggestion-the formation of a consultative associated committee, an idea to which Sir Ronald continued to be partial after his return to Great Britain from Australia-was not deemed practicable. Mr. Wzlter Long, in a private letter to the Governor- Gcneral, written after the passing of Mr. Hughes’s resolution, expressed the opinion that “ the change is due to two causes: fiist, the war, and the fact that from time to time Prime Ministers think that they ought to send some special hint or suggestion to the Prime Minister here; secondly, to an idea that it is more dignified and more becoming the position of Prime Minister of a great dominion to be in direct com- 19 18- 191 THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 187

niunication with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, rather than having to address him through another Minister.” At the same time, Mr. Long did not conceal his opinion that “the pressure of work on a Prime Minister here is so great that it is quite impossible that any communications he receives can be given the time and attention which, if they are of any real importance, they deserve.” That the Governor-General regretted the adoption of the resolution on personal as well as administrative grounds, is certain. “ I feel the position of the Governor-General is so greatly altered by the change,” he wrote, “and that the constitution itself is so altered by his elimination as a constitutional factor, that I am glad my term of office is nearly over.” He believed that the position which the Governor- General under the Commonwealth Constitution was intended to occupy, had been undermined by a political device which deprived him of direct means of knowledge of what was happening between two governing authorities, in both of which he occupied a responsible place. There was a clear difference, in his judgment, between political maneuvres within Australia, as to which ministers might consider that they could keep their own secrets among themselves, and matters of policy as between the Imperial and Australian Governments, as to which the Governor-General ought to be the “ channel of communication.” Moreover, he was not the man to accept willingly any minimising of his office. He was too deeply interested in Australia and in her place in the British Commonwealth of Nations, to be content to be a dignified spectator. As his abundant correspondence proves, he did not lightly regard the duty of keeping the Crown informed about important movements and tendencies, and could not be content to gather his information from second- hand sources. His own promptness in transmitting despatches and cables refuted the suggestion that delays occurred under the system prevailing from 1914 to 1918, and he denied the probability of ‘‘ direct ” relations with the Prime Minister of Great Britain conducing to the acceleration of business. So far from agreeing with a course which appeared to minimise his office, Sir Ronald held that it should be strengthened in one direction. He more than once threw out 188 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR [1918-20 the suggestion that the Governor-General should also be High Commissioner of the Western Pacific-and, as such, an Imperial officer. The suggestion was never formally con- sidered, and the acceptance of it would have raised considerable difficulties, constitutional and administrative, both from the Australian and from the Imperial point of view.

VI Nevertheless in 1919he agreed to a year’s extension of his term, and, when it was intimated that the Prince of Wales intended to pay a visit to Australia, and that the Imperial and the Australian Governments desired again to extend the Governor-General’s stay in Australia in order that he might be the host of His Royal Highness, he did not hesitate to consent. He left himself “ entirely in the hands ” of the Secretary of State. Lord Milner officially informed him (early in 1920) that the King had approved of the extension of his term, and Sir Ronald replied that he would do his utmost to give the Prince “a pleasant time and make the visit a triumphant success.” That promise was thoroughly fulfilled during the memorable months of 1920 when His Royal Highness made his series of visits to the various States of the Commonwealth. The peerage conferred upon Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson, by which he became Viscount Novar of Raith (6th December, 1920) set the crown of approbation upon his discharge of his duties during the most perplexing period in the history of the Australian Commonwealth. His official path in those exciting years was anything but smooth. It was broken by pitfalls which could be avoided only by alertness, adroitness, and strict adherence to principle. The Governor-General had to be aloof and independent, yet he felt that he could not be indifferent to the duty, which, he believed, Australia was under a solemn obligation to discharge, of vindicating the Empire of which she was an important dominion. There were occasions when his personal opinion on matters of policy did not accord with the course determined upon by his ministers. But his constitutional position required him to accept advice, not to give it, unless it were solicited, and then his counsel was given as that of friend to friend. We now know 1920-341 THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 189 that his personal opinion was that the first conscription referendum was “a first-class error for which the state of politics and society is more responsible than the Prime Minister,” though ‘* the two most notable and experienced men in Australia, Griffith and Barton, were of opinion that the referendum had to be conceded, and that Hughes was right.” As to the second conscription referendum, his own view was that the Prime Minister made a capital error in “yielding against his better judgment instead of putting conscription to the vote in Parliament and dissolving if beaten.” But these opinions it was not for him to express to his official advisers. It was their business to formulate policy. He was placed “above the thunder,” an observer, not a participant: and it was his strength as Governor-General that he could detach himself from the broils of the day and keep his own judgment cool. When Lord Novar died (30th March, 1934) Mr. W. M. Hughes published a tribute to his memory, which, coming from the one man in Australian political life who knew him most intimately, merits quotation in this chapter : “Lord Novar’s name will always be associated with the greatest crisis in Australia’s history. His term of office-extended, as tribute to his outstanding qualities, beyond the normal period+overed the war and early post-war years. “ Coming to the Commonwealth with a great reputation, he displayed qualities of statesmanship of the highest order, and he had a profound knowledge of human nature. ‘‘ Among the distinguished men who have held the Vice-Regal office since its establishment-under five. of whom I have had the honor to serve-he stands out prominently. “He was a man of wide vision and sound judgment, sagacious in counsel, tactful, fertile in suggestion, and of great courage. Guided by great principles, and inspired by lofty ideals, no man was more ready to acknowledge and face facts. 190 AUSTRALIA DURING THE WAR 11914-34

" During the dark days of the war, when the sky was black with portents of disaster, he never lost confidence in ultimate victory. In grappling with the many and complex problems, national, economic, social, and political, that confronted the Government which I had the honor to lead, he was always ready with wise counsels and helpful suggestions. " Lord Novar has earned a lasting place among the great pro-consuls who have helped to build up the British Empire." Notwithstanding the anxieties entailed by the incidence of war and the perplexities pertaining to politics from 1914-1920 -so much more serious than are ordinarily experienced by the representative of the Crown in a dominion-it is true to say that Lord Novar enjoyed his term in Australia. He liked Australian life and was deeply interested in the people, in problems of all kinds, in public men of all parties, in industries, agriculture, afforestation, in the literature and art of the country, in the work of those who were doing important things and the ordinary vocations of the mass. Several times he expressed a wish to purchase a sheep station in Australia and live upon it ; for sheep-breeding appealed to him strongly, and he once noted upon an official paper his pleasure at receiving a cablegram informing him that the prices realised by his Highland wool were high than those ruling for Australian wool. But the responsibilities resting upon him in Great Britain made it impossible to remain away, and he returned home, to become in due course Secretary of State for Scotland (1922-1924), and Knight of the Scottish Order of the Thistle (1926). He never ceased to take the liveliest interest in Australian affairs, maintained correspondence with friends at the Antipodes, and delighted to entertain them at Raith. where his woods and gardens, his library and his splendid Raeburns, provided themes upon which he would talk with discernment and affection. One of the very last occupations of his life-only just finished before the end tame at of 74-was to arrange his Australian papers amassed during the years of his devoted service as Governor- General of the Commonwealth.