ULSTERMAN'S VARIED
CAREER
From "Overalls" to Canadian
Cabinet
Mr. Peter Hennan, who is said to have been
the first man to jump from "overalls" to a
Cabinet appointment in the Canadian
Government, and who is an old friend of Mr.
J. E. Thomas, arrived at Liverpool from
Canada last week in the liner Duchess of
Bedford. A remarkable man, he has been a
professional footballer, worked in a
colliery in England, was a deep-sea diver
and an engine driver. He is now Minister of
Lands and Forests in Ontario, and has held
the post of Minister of Labour in the
Canadian Government.
Mr. Hennan, who is accompanied by his
son, said: "I am just on a trip for the
benefit of my health. My doctor advised me
to take a trip to Bermuda or down the
Mediterranean, but I thought the hills of
Cumberland, with the smell of the bogs
and heather, would do me more good. No,
I was not born in Cumberland; I was born
in County Down, Northern Ireland, but I
came to Cumberland when I was six years
of age. I have a widowed sister living at
Workington, and I am going there to see
her after a few days in London, where I
hope to shake the hand of Jimmy Thomas
and George Lansbury.
"It is quite true that I worked as a
surfaceman at St. Helen's Colliery,
Cumberland, many years ago. Then I was a
professional footballer for Moss Bay
Exchange Football Club, and I still
have here on my watch chain the gold
medal we won in 1867 for the district
championship. I have been a deep-sea
diver, first in the North of England and
then out in Costa Rica. I have been in
politics 20 out of the 32 years I have
been in Canada. I met Mr. Thomas when I
went to Geneva as Minister of Labour
for the Canadian Government in 1928."
