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THE TIMES WEDNESDAY APRIL 19 1939
SIR MATTHEW NATHAN
SOLDIER, GOVERNOR, AND POLITICIAN
Lieutenant-Colonel the Right Hon. Sir Matthew Nathan, who died at the Manor House, West Coker, Somerset, yesterday at the age of 77, had a long administrative career of great distinction and variety. Beginning his career as a soldier he saw a considerable amount of active service. Later he eld the Governorships of the Gold Coast, Hong-kong, Natal, and Queensland, and among the important posts he held at home was that of Under- Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ire- land (the 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair) from 1914 to 1916.
Born on January 3, 1862, of a Jewish family of remarkable ability, and younger brother of the late Colonel Sir Frederic Nathan, the chemist and explosives expert, he entered the Royal Engineers in 1880, being promoted to captain in 1889 and obtaining his majority in 1898. He saw active service, with the Sudan Expedition in 1884-85, when he was employed on the Sudan Railway, and with the Lushai Expedition in 1889, for which he received the medal and clasp. In 1895 Nathan was appointed Secretary to the Colonial Defence Committee, and this first brought him under the notice of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who formed a high opinion of his abilities. While still Secre- tary to the Committee, he was sent out to Sierra Leone in 1898 to administer the Govern- ment of that Colony. In 1900 he was appointed Governor of the Gold Coast, an appointment which he held for three years. The Ashanti War had just ended and the Colony was still in an unsettled state. The new Governor soon began to bring about a better state of affairs. He devoted his energy to developing the resources and improving the finances of the Colony, and, in particular, pushed forward the railway into the interior, the purpose of the new line being both strategic and economic. He was popular both with the merchants and with the natives, of whose interests he made a special study; and at the end of his three years' Governorship he left behind him a record of wise and prudent administration.
In 1903 Sir Matthew was transferred to Hong-kong, where the reputation which he had gained as Governor on the West Coast was confirmed. His term of office coincided with a period of prosperity in the Colony's affairs, and during his Governorship the nego- tiations regarding the Canton-Kowloon rail- way took place. From 1907 to 1909 he was Governor of Natal, being the last Governor before the federation of the four South African Colonies in the Union of South Africa. During his term of office there was some recrudescence of the native trouble in Zululand, but otherwise the matters of chief
moment were those connected with the ques- tion of federation. In 1909 his career took
Union, he became Secretary to the General Post Office at home, in which appointment he showed the same qualities of impartiality and judgment and mastery of the details of administration which he had shown în his Colonial appointments. His success at the G.P.O. marked him out for further promo- tion, and in 1911 he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue, in succession to Sir Robert Chalmers on the appointment of the latter to be Permanent Secretary of the Treasury.
Then followed the Irish episode which forms the most debated period in Sir Matthew's career. Just before the outbreak of the War it became necessary for the Government to choose a new Under-Secretary for Ireland, to prepare the way for the advent of Home Rule. His long and varied record of successful administration, coupled with his knowledge of finance and his previous experience of the difficulties connected with a change in the system of government in another part of the Empire, seemed to suggest Sir Matthew Nathan as a suitable choice for this important appointment. On the outbreak of the War the difficulties of the Irish question were greatly increased, and the Under-Secretary on taking up his new duties in October, 1914, had to face a most serious and menacing situa- tion as well as the attacks of extremists who opposed the policy of the Irish Nationalist Party, in supporting the Government. The Sinn Fein movement gathered momentum, and the reluctance of the Irish Executive to take repressive measures culminated in the Irish Rebellion of Easter, 1916. The Chief Secre- tary (Mr. Birrell) was in England in con- nexion with a Cabinet crisis and Sir Matthew was in sole charge at Dublin Castle when the rebellion broke out. For its failure to warn the Government at home of the seriousness of the danger the Irish Executive was severely criticized, and the Lord Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary re- signed. The Lord Lieutenant was subse- quently reappointed, while Sir Matthew Nathan was transferred to this country as Secretary of the Ministry of Pensions, where his abilities in finance and in the mastery of detail had full play.
A new chapter of Sir Matthew's career opened in 1920 on his appointment as Governor of Queensland, where he remained for five years. A Labour Government was in power under Mr. Theodore, who remained Premier of the State during the greater part of Sir Matthew's term. Among the important events which occurred during his Governor- ship were the extension of the State Railway system and the acquisition by the Government of the Brisbane tramways. In the constitu- tional field should be mentioned the abolition of the Legislative Council. Nathan was Chancellor of Queensland University in 1922-26, of which he was LL.D. He had specially devoted his attention to the question of the survey of the Great Barrier Reef, and on his return to this country he continued his interest in the matter. It was on his initiative that the Government set up a sub-committee of the Civil Research Committee, whose re- commendations led to the Barrier Reef Expedi- tion in 1928-29. He was, in addition, chair- man of several other sub-committees of the Civil Research Committee, and later of the Economic Advisory Council; he was chairman of the Sub-Committee on Geophysical Survey- ing in 1927 and of the Sub-Committee on Irrigation Research in 1928-30. He was also a member of the Special Commission on the Constitution of Ceylon in 1927-28, and was chairman of the Colonial Secretary's Advisory Committee on Rubber in 1926-28.
He was
Since his retirement from Queensland Nathan had had a country home in Somerset, and took a warm interest in all local affairs. He had been an alderman of the Somerset County Council since 1927, and was president of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1930-31. greatly interested in the preservation and classification of county records, and he did much active work on those of Somerset. In recent years he spent much time in preparing an account of the history in the Middle Ages of the Manor of West Coker.
He was pricked'
for Sheriff of the county in March, 1934.
Sir Matthew Nathan was unmarried. He was created a C.M.G. in 1899, and was pro- moted to K.C.M.G. in 1902 and G.C.M.G. in 1908, during his Governorship of Natal. He was.sworn a Privy Councillor for Ireland in 1914.
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