![]() In the mid-1870s free trade was something of a shibboleth in New South Wales but Reid, whose eldest brother Hugh was chairman of the Melbourne Steamship Co. But on one issue he saw little scope for compromise-the question of free trade and protection. Reid's ability to see both sides of a controversial question accounted for his eventual undeserved reputation as a fence-sitter that in 1898 won him the soubriquet 'Yes-No Reid'. In the late 1850s he attended many of the public debates on manhood suffrage and other democratic reforms, where he was struck by 'the unbridled eloquence' of political reformers, and 'the gloomy forebodings' of their conservative opponents such impressions laid the basis of an approach to political issues which if never cynical was always pragmatic. Reid early showed a strong interest in politics. The postmaster-general, who was about to visit London to interest the British government in additional services, sought unsuccessfully to have him seconded to the mission as secretary. He had published a pamphlet, The Diplomacy of Victoria on the Postal Question (1873), which set out the New South Wales case in favour of establishing mail-steamer routes other than the subsidized Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.'s service which terminated at Melbourne. ![]() At 15 he had joined the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts Debating Society, later becoming one of its leading figures he was active in the Young Men's Presbyterian Union, for a time as secretary and he did not neglect his work, as his rapid promotion in the treasury indicates-by 1874 he was chief clerk of the correspondence branch and his salary had doubled. Later he was to speak of a youth misspent on pleasure, but the facts hardly match this interpretation. The annual salary of £200 was enough to enable him to enjoy life, and acquire a reputation as a bon vivant and something of a ladies' man. In 1864 he became an assistant accountant in the Colonial Treasury. When he arrived in Sydney at 13 he was placed as a junior clerk in a merchant's counting-house. George Reid spent some time at the Melbourne Academy (Scotch College) where, he recalled, he learned to 'read, write and count fairly well', but had 'a lazy horror of Greek' and no appetite for the 'wide range of metaphysical propositions' which formed part of the curriculum. John Reid joined John Dunmore Lang at Scots Church, Sydney, in 1858 and later took over the interdenominational Mariners' Church in Lower George Street. ![]() The family moved to Liverpool two months later, and in May 1852 arrived in Melbourne. John Reid (d.1867), Presbyterian minister, and his wife Marion (d.1885), née Crybbace. Sir George Houstoun Reid (1845-1918), premier, prime minister and high commissioner, was born on 25 February 1845 at Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland, youngest of five sons of Rev. ![]() National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an12267435 ![]()
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