PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. 



445 







Photo.] [A. D. Ford. 



H.M.S. "NEW ZEALAND," LYING AGAINST THE WHARF AT LYTTELTON. 



Exit Mr. McCowen. 



With the return of Mr. Holman from 

 London, Mr. McGowen has relinquished 

 the New South Wales Premiership, and 

 Mr. Holman will meet Parliament as 

 Premier and the new leader of the 

 party. The anomaly is that Mr. 

 McGowen should elect to remain in the 

 Cabinet as a subordinate Minister. It 

 was generally anticipated that he was 

 preparing the way for political retire- 

 ment at the approaching elections. The 

 strain of Parliamentary leadership has 

 always weighed heavily on Mr. Mc- 

 Gowen, much more so than it will on 

 Mr. Holman. The two men are cast 

 in an entirely different mould. Mr. 

 Holman came to politics, as he came 

 to the law, as he would come to any- 

 thing under the sun — to the manner 

 born. Mr. McGowen, if the truth were 

 known, has never been happy in 

 tics. He has only been partly suc- 



cessful in accommodating his ideals to 

 politics. He will always be remem- 

 bered for his transparent honesty of 

 purpose, for his devotion to the inter- 

 ests of the workers, from whose ranks 

 he sprang into political prominence. 

 Mr. McGowen was not born a great 

 man. Political greatness was thrust 

 upon him, and though he ever wore his 

 honours with modest}-, his nearest 

 friends declare that he was as uncom- 

 fortable in them as young David when 

 he essayed Saul's fighting armour. 



Mi*. Holman Arrives. 



No prophet was needed to predict 

 the ultimate triumph of Mr. Holman. 

 From the day that he turned his face 

 towards politics and elected to seek 

 political fortune, nobody has been 

 found to deny him the possibility of 

 success. As a budding politician he 

 was popularly known as the "boy 

 orator," and his ready mind and 



