Australian History: George Reid
Born in Scotland in 1845, one of a parson's seven children, he was brought to Australia at the age of seven. At 13 he was the office boy of a Sydney merchant. Six years later he found a job in the Colonial Treasury. Part-time law studies helped his promotion to secretary to the Attorney-General and brought admission as a barrister in 1879.
Reid was a Free Trader, believing imports and exports should be free from the tariffs which Protectionists advocated to safeguard Australian industry. Free Traders applauded Reid's speeches and publications and in 1880 elected him to the Colonial Parliament.
Reid attracted some criticism from Deakin who claimed that Reid as a parliamentarian was ‘inordinately vain and resolutely selfish and a consummate tactician…’ Nevertheless, as a minister and then as Premier, Reid greatly increased the number of high schools and technical schools, aided adult education, cut government spending, reformed the land tax laws and created an independent non-political Public Service Board to administer the service.
In 1904, he allied twice with a group of Protectionists, first to tip out Deakin and then to overwhelm Watson. The latter move put the Free Traders into power, with Reid as Prime Minister. And despite his ‘Yes-No’ attitude to federation, he insisted the move should be approved by a majority of the electorate, rather than by parliamentarians alone.
Deakin however was planning to get ride of Reid and in July 1905, he used Labor support to cut him out of power. From that moment on, Reid lost much of his interest in federal politics, apart from supporting the closer alliance of Free Trade and Protectionists. He left most of the work of Leader of the Opposition to his lieutenant, Joseph Cook, while he concentrated on his legal practice.
He retired from Parliament in 1908 and in 1910 accepted appointment as Australia's first High Commissioner in London. In 1916 Andrew Fisher replaced him as High Commissioner but, by that time, Reid was so well established in Britain that the Liberal Party offered him a 'safe' seat in the House of Commons. He held the seat until his death in 1918, the only Australian ever to have sat in the Colonial, Commonwealth and Westminster Parliament.