§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Ramsay MacDonald)I am sure the House would wish for an opportunity to record its sorrow at the untimely death of the late Lord Privy Seal, Mr. Hartshorn, and also to enter a record of its appreciation of his work. The case is one of unstinted devotion to public duty shortening the days of life here. Mr. Hartshorn was one of the men of humble origin and lowly beginnings who, in this generation, have stepped into high offices of State, with vast responsibilities, and who have done their work with signal distinction and success. They have proved that the experiences which go to create a capacity to govern are not necessarily gained in public schools, in universities, or in the professions, but belong to the knowledge of life gained in working-class homes, facing working-class trials, fructified by steadfast character and native ability. He began life in an office, he passed on to a pit, and then his fellows selected him as their representative and their champion. Minutes with him were golden, and what gold he did not inherit he made. No one knew the intricacies of the coal trade in the end better than he did, and in all negotiations he was an outstanding figure. He had his own views. He led his trade union as a responsible man. As Gay said, "He heard the advice and took his own." He stood for peace, peace and just dealing. He won general confidence. He was a model to those who are to come after him and fill his shoes.
As a colleague, he was dependable and splendid. As Postmaster-General he was a good administrator. As a member of the Statutory Commission that investigated the problem of India, he brought a fresh mind to that question; he mastered the facts; he contributed liberally to the work. As co-ordinating Minister for Unemployment, he experienced to the full the disappointments attending that baffling problem, but he was beginning, I am sure, to see the fruits of his labour when he was called away from the scene of action. He will live in hearts and memories so long as those who worked with him live themselves; and in the history of the Labour movement and of working-class government in this country he has won an honoured and an abiding place.
§ Mr. STANLEY BALDWINIt is only fitting that the House of Commons should pay its tribute to a Minister who was so recently with us, and I would like, first of all, from this side of the House, to express our heartfelt sympathy with the Prime Minister and the Members of the Government in the tragic losses which they have sustained even within the last few days. It is not fitting in this House to speak of other losses than that of Mr. Hartshorn. I have known him for many years, and I would endorse from my own experience what the Prime Minister has said, for, after all, his words only gave expression to a belief that I have always held, that the capacity to rise to high places and to government is no monopoly of any class, or any rank in the State. I would venture to add this as coming from an opponent, and perhaps the Prime Minister will agree: I noticed in his career, which I watched with interest from my early association with South Wales, that his mind seemed to broaden with responsibility. His mind broadened and his capacity broadened, as indeed I hope may be the case with all of us, and it certainly was the case with him.
With regard to the great industry of which Mr. Hartshorn had special knowledge, there was no one in this House more familiar with its problems, who could speak with greater lucidity, or who was always more true and loyal to what he conceived to be the interests of those who had sent him to Parliament. He did not always see eye to eye with us, and, naturally, many of us approached the problem from different angles, but we always recognised his knowledge and his sincerity. With regard to the last words of the Prime Minister, I think that there can be no doubt that his end was hastened by the devotion with which he brought himself to face those great Indian problems and by the work he did on the Commission of my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Sir J. Simon). He threw himself into that work with ardour, no light task for a man approaching 60 years of age to spend so many months in an Eastern climate working with devotion and with no limit as to time or hours, as was the work done by every member of that Commission. He has set an example of duty plainly and simply done. No higher 1693 testimonial can any of us ask or seek from this House, and this House pays a tribute to him as a man who has done his duty in his generation.
Mr. LLOYD GEORGEI have known Mr. Vernon Hartshorn for well nigh 30 years, and for probably 20 of those years of his life I think I can claim that he and I were personal friends. The news of his death was a terrible shock to all of his friends. It was only on Wednesday last, just behind the Speaker's Chair, that I was making arrangements with him for a series of conferences on the problem of unemployment. I did not realise then that, instead of undertaking that very anxious problem, he ought to have been taking a long rest. There is no doubt at all that the concentration which he put into that task had a good deal to do with the shortening of his life. The first time I came in contact with him in business was about 20 years ago during the great mining stoppage, and I was not alone among the negotiators in being struck not only with his exceptional knowledge, profound, accurate and thorough, of the whole problem, but even more with the broadmindedness and the exceptional independent judgment with which he approached the problem. With protagonists, as there always are on those occasions, entrenching themselves stubbornly on both sides behind their respective formulas, he was devoting his very keen, shrewd and independent mind to finding means of getting round the difficulties, and urging the things that matter. I remember very well, because I was one of the three negotiators associated with Mr. Asquith on that occasion, that it was largely due to his wise counsel that a settlement was reached in the end.
All those who knew him realised that he had personal qualities apart from these gifts of mind, personal qualities of heart that endeared him to all. He was a kindly, genial, friendly soul, and extremely tolerant. There was no man I have met who was prouder of the movement with which he was associated. He never concealed it, and he never obtruded it. He was in it in the days of small things; he was devoted, he was loyal, and he was full of pride in his success. Nevertheless, I never remember a man who was so devoid of bitterness towards movements or men with whom he disagreed. All 1694 those who knew him loved him, and those who knew him best loved him most. There are scores of Members of this House who knew him who will not be surprised to know that in the valleys of South Wales to-day there are scores and hundreds and thousands of men and women not of his political creed who are mourning his loss to-day as that of a dear friend.
§ 4.0 p.m.
§ Sir JOHN SIMONI am grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, for inviting me to add two or three sentences to what has already been so well said, and said for us all, but for between two and three years Mr. Hartshorn was a colleague of mine on the India Statutory Commission, and this is the first gap that has occurred in the ranks of the Commission. As my right hon. Friend who has just spoken said, Mr. Hartshorn brought to the tasks that were laid upon him an energy and a sympathy which, in combination, secured great results. He sat by my side for every working day, sometimes for months on end, during the long investigations in India and in this country. I never knew him fail to discharge his full part, and I never knew him out of temper. He felt the heat and the travelling in India sometimes very greatly—he was older than most of us—and he had one very serious illness in Madras. From first to last—and it is right that I should say this to the House—Mr. Hartshorn brought to that great task the services of a completely candid mind, which desired to see things for itself and to assent to no conclusion which did not really carry his approval, and, if there be merit in the fact that the report which we produced was unanimous, it is but just that I should admit here that that was very largely due to the influence of the public servant who has just passed away. He combined in a very remarkable degree, as I saw it, on the one hand a quite exceptional power of grasping the general result of figures, and presenting them in a form which was impressive and picturesque, and, on the other hand, he had an easiness of temper and a willingness to listen to argument invaluable in all places, but most invaluable of all when one comes to a task such as that which he helped to discharge. I cannot imagine a better quality, and I have as much reason as any to say that in his death the country is losing a devoted public servant.