Evening star., 1923-11-06
Financial Secretary of Treasury
One of Britain's Important Officers
by THE MARaUIsE DE FONTENOY.

BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY.
OF all the Offices of the British
government. outside the cabinet, the
most important is undoubtedly that
of the financial secretary of the
treasury. who is always a member of
parliament and the chief adviser of
the premier in the distribution Of
Office and Of patronage. He is. in
fact, by virtue of his Office, the de
facto head OF the government party
machine and, whenever he can be
spared, he is promoted to the rank
of cabinet minister, while, in the
event of the downfall of the admins
tration. he is usually rewarded for
his services with a peerage, should
he prefer the leisure ofcthe upper.
chamber to the more arduous work
of the house of commons. That is
why the advancement of Lieut.. Col.
the Hon. Walter Guinness from the
undersecretaryship of state for war
to this particular office has attracted
considerable amount of attention
in the English political world.
Col. Walter Guinness is the young
est of the three sons of the septu-
agenarian Earl of Iveagh and after
winning distinction at Eton as cap
tain of the boats, and as stroke for
three successive years In the Eton
eight" took part in the Boer war
at the beginning of the century. when
he was still fresh from school, re-
ceiving a couple of bad wounds and
plenty of medals and mentions in
dispatches. while he won not only
the distinguished service order at the
front In France, in 1917, but also
bar thereto in the final fighting, the
bar meaning that he had deserved
the order twice over He is married
to the Lady Evelyn Erskine, daughter
of the fourteenth Earl of Buchan,
who was one of the prettiest debu-
tantes of twenty years ago. He Is
universal favorite. and, therefore,
ideally qualified for the post to which
he has just been appointed. He pre-
sents striking contrast to his eldest
brother, Rupert, who now bears the
courtesy title of Viscount Elveden.
The latter is very stout. fair haired
and sunny tempered and, as captain
of the Royal Naval Reserves. did
much good work during a por-
tion of the war in patrolling the
Thames down to the More, the men
under his command, who had their
chief station at Blackfriars, being
popuiarly known as as the the ths ,BlaEs- ais
mond sculls twice at Henley and. just
before the great war, won the kings
cup at the Cowes regatta with his
yacht Leander, beating, with others.
the ex-kaiser's Meteor. Walter Guin-
ness, on the other hand. is as thin.
pale and eager as Lord Elvedon is
the reverse. Indeed. they are so diff
ferent from one another. alike in
character and in appearance. that
they have long been endowed by their
fellow members of the house of com.
and pale Ales." while if by any
chance, they are together, they are
commented on as "'Alf and 'Alf."
x x
Needless to add that Walter GUM
ness is native of Dublin, of which
city his father, the old Earl OF
Iveagh, who pronounces his name as
IL it were written "Iver," is one OF
the chief benefactors. Indeed the
Irish metropolis owes so much to the
munificent liberality of Lord lVeagh
and to his elder brother, the late Lord
Ardilaun, that their fellow toWnsmen
paid Lord Ardilaun the unusual COM
pltment of erecting a statue OF him,
during his lifetime, on st. stephens
Green, which he and Lord Iveagh con-
yerted at a cost of quarter or
million dollars into an ornamental
park for the people. ANOTHER service
rendered to Dublin by Lord lVeagn
and his late brother has been the
purifying of the waters OF the River
Liffey. Indeed, Dublin's water sup
ply was formerly incredibly dirty ana
productive of no end of typnolo, 90
which, by the way, King GeoTsos
elder brother, the late Duke OF Gar
ence. succumbed at the close OF a
visit to the Irish capital. NO at
tempt, however, was made TO remeoy
the matter until Lord !veagn an
nounced that the great irish brewing
Arm of Guinness, with which mis- ram
ily have SO long been identihed, wouIo
he compelled to transfer their I'M
mense breweries elsewhere, owing 70
the water having become uhhI AoF
brewing purposes.
It is said that an American tourist
from the western states. on visiting
Dublin for the first time. just before
the war, and on having his atten-
ton called to the numerous manifes-
tatlons u .he p4olic soirE VI Ins