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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 5 (August 1, 1934)

An Impression of Ballance

An Impression of Ballance.

In the little book of often uncomplimentary character sketches, “Political Portraits,” by “Quiz” published in Wellington in 1892, there is a word-picture of John Ballance which, in part, is the best description of the man that I have read. But it has its acid touches. I quote the more accurate and fair portions of the sketch from the pen of “Quiz.” otherwise Joseph Evison; I omit the rest because it exhibits a spirit of malice in which the author of “Political Portraits” often indulged at the expense of those with whose politics he disagreed. Here is Ballance in his early days as Premier: —

“A tall, but not very tall man. Physically, a large man—large all over. Head, well developed; hair, smooth and iron-grey; eyes of pale or neutral tint, eyes which look out cautiously, sometimes suspiciously, at times timidly, from beneath penthouse brows; features massive and marked, Hibernian in cast; shoulders, large and round—rounded, may be, by the cares of State or the burden of leader-writing when there was nothing to write about; arms, long; hands, small and, seen from the distance, delicate. Garb these proportions in seemly broadcloth, tweed, and fair linen, and you have, roughly speaking, the Premier of New Zealand. Very roughly, of course, because the paragraph descriptive of the passport or Police Gazette variety, merely sketches, so to speak, the rind of the person advertised. At first glance Mr. Ballance undoubtedly gives the impression of strength, of physical and mental sturdiness. Those, however, who have learned to distrust first impressions, and to note physical and mental characteristics, apparently trifling, but really useful, might perhaps hesitate before they credited the Premier with bodily or mental robustness of the first order

“In manner Mr. Ballance is generally agreeable. When he is having everything his own way he is very-agreeable. Many people are like that. When he is nice, he is very, very nice. It has been said of him that his methods are sometimes saponaceous. Wherever or however obtained, Mr. Ballance is in possession of a vast variety of useful information. There is a certain amount of useful information of which he is not in possession. This frequently happens even with celebrated persons. Largely self-taught, many of Mr. Ballance's errors and mistakes spring from the fact that his studies have never been judiciously directed, that he has not digested all that he has read, and that many of his opinions arc, not unnaturally, crude. He, like Sir Robert Stout, is too prone to take up raw theories elegantly propounded in British or American magazine articles, the writers of which little think what may be amusement to them may he seriously swallowed, without proper mental mastication, by some well-meaning gentleman, who holds for the time being the destinies of his country in the hollow of his hand. Without writing the Hon. John Ballance down as a political failure I think that he would have been a better, a more useful, and a far happier member of society had he never rushed into political life. He, a man of peace, fond of the acquisition of knowledge, enjoying many pleasant and semi-scientific hobbies, has, somehow or another, drilled into the political Donnybrook, where skulls are broken, nose? spoilt, and limbs fractured, just for pure diversion. Being there, and not caring for hard knocks, he saves his head as much as possible by clever skirmishing and scheming, makes up for his deficiencies as a fighter by the loudness of his encouragement to his followers, clips an enemy over the head with a black-thorn when safe opportunity offers, would hugely prefer to be out of the scrimmage altogether, and will get out of it the first moment he can, with decency or with profit to do so.” It all depend, of course, on the point of view, the political view; “Quiz” wrote before Mr. Ballance had had an opportunity of fully proving his usefulness to the nation. But one thing is certain: he would have lived far longer had he refrained from the fascinating but sometimes fatal game of party politics.