Philip Game
Sir Philip Woolcott Game was a Royal Air Force commander, who later served as Governor of New South Wales and Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. Born in Surrey in 1876, Game was educated at Charterhouse School and entered the military at Royal Military Academy Woolwich, gaining his commission in 1895. Serving with the Royal Artillery, Game saw action in the Second Boer War and the First World War. After serving with distinction and bravery, Game transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in early 1916 serving as General Trenchard's chief staff officer. Finishing the War as an acting major-general, Game remained in the Royal Air Force after the close of hostilities. Notably he served as Air Officer Commanding RAF India and Air Member for Personnel. He retired from the military in 1929, having reached the rank of air vice-marshal.
In March 1930, Game was appointed Governor of New South Wales, serving during a time of political instability and coming into conflict with the NSW Labor government over attempts to abolish the New South Wales Legislative Council. Game dismissed the Government of Premier Jack Lang in May 1932, forcing the 1932 election. Ending his term in January 1935, Game returned to Britain and was appointed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London. He held it during the tumultuous 1930s, the 1936 abdication crisis and the Second World War, before retiring at the end of the war in Europe in 1945. Between 1937 and 1949 he resided at Langham House, Ham Common, Surrey and was Vicar's Warden at St. Andrews church. Retiring with his wife Gwendoline to his home in Kent, Game died in February 1961, aged 84.
Early life and career
Game was born in Streatham, Surrey, on 30 March 1876 to George Beale Game, a merchant from Broadway, Worcestershire, and his wife Clara Vincent. Before entering the army, he was educated at Charterhouse School. Following officer training at the Royal Military Academy Woolwich, Game was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 2 November 1895 into the Royal Artillery. Promoted to lieutenant on 2 November 1898 and further promoted to captain on 3 June 1901, he served in the Second Boer War and was mentioned in dispatches. As a young artillery captain he was made officer in charge of the gun carriage bearing the coffin of Queen Victoria at her funeral in February 1901. In July 1902, he was appointed divisional adjutant of the IX division Royal Field Artillery, stationed at Middelburg, Cape Colony. Following brief postings in India and Ireland, Game attended the Staff College, Camberley in 1910 and was posted as a General Service Officer at the War Office. He later won the Royal United Services Institute Gold Medal Essay. On 11 August 1908 he married Gwendolen Margaret Hughes-Gibb, the daughter of Francis Hughes-Gibb of Dorset, and was promoted as a major on 15 February 1912.Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Game served on the front in France, including at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. In the war he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the Legion of Honour and the Order of the Crown of Italy and was five times Mentioned in Despatches. In early 1916 Game transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a result of Hugh Trenchard's request for an experienced staff officer to serve in his headquarters. Game transferred to the Royal Air Force on its creation in 1918. At the end of the war, Game continued to work under Trenchard, but as Director of Training and Organisation in the RAF. In 1922 he was promoted to the rank of air vice-marshal and appointed Air Officer Commanding RAF India. The next year he took up the post of Air Member for Personnel and was appointed as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath a year later. Game retired suddenly on 1 January 1929, at the age of 52, allegedly owing to the rumours of his being appointed Chief of the Air Staff. On 1 March 1929 he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in the military division.
Governor of New South Wales
At the height of the Great Depression, Game was appointed Governor of New South Wales in March 1930. He arrived in Sydney with his family aboard the P&O liner, RMS Moldavia on 29 May 1930. On 30 June 1930, Game was appointed by King George V as a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of St John. At the October 1930 State elections the Bavin Nationalist Government was defeated and the Labor Party leader, Jack Lang, became Premier.Legislative Council abolition
Lang's previous term of office from 1925 to 1927 had brought him into conflict with Game's predecessor, Sir Dudley de Chair, over the proposed appointment of additional members to the Legislative Council, in order to enable the abolition of the house, using the same techniques used to abolish the Queensland Legislative Council in 1922. His inability to gain control in the Upper House obstructed Lang's legislative programme and in November 1930, claiming a mandate to abolish the council, Lang's Labor MLCs put forward two bills, one to repeal section 7A of the NSW Constitution, the other to abolish the council. Lang requested the necessary additional appointments to pass the legislation from Game. However, these requests were met with Game's refusal.Believing that a referendum was necessary before the bills could become law, the Legislative Council permitted the bills to pass without a division on 10 December. Lang then announced his intention of presenting the bills for Game's Royal assent without a referendum. The following day, two members of the Legislative Council, Thomas Playfair and Arthur Trethowan, applied for and were granted an injunction preventing the president of the council, Sir John Peden, and the ministers from presenting the bills to the Governor without having held a referendum. On 23 December the Supreme Court of New South Wales in the case of Trethowan v Peden, upheld the injunction and ordered the government not to present for royal assent, unless ratified by the electors in a referendum, bills to abolish the council. Lang immediately prepared an appeal to the High Court of Australia. In the case of Attorney-General v Trethowan, the appeal was rejected by a majority of the court. Lang then appealed this decision to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. On 31 May 1932 the Privy Council dismissed the government's appeal.
Reflecting his status as a representative of the British Government, Game at all times informed the Dominions Office of political developments. In hard financial times, NSW soon came into conflict with the federal government as Lang's unorthodox financial policy opposed the economic orthodoxy advocated by Sir Otto Niemeyer, who was the main financial advisor to the Federal Scullin Labor government and later the Lyons United Australia Party Government. In July 1931, in a personal contribution towards economic recovery, Game notified Treasury to make a 25% deduction from his own monthly salary.
Lang's Government soon introduced legislation to cope with the economic problems the state was facing. Its first move was the Reduction of Interest Bill, which was intended to default on payments of overseas debts to British bondholders in an attempt to negotiate the interest rate. The Legislative Council prevented passage on 26 March 1931 by resolving that the bill be read again in six months time. Lang again asked for additional members to force his legislation through. Game, aware of the weight of opinion in the MacDonald Government in London, the Scullin government in Canberra, and Sydney against the Lang administration's financial policies, refused. On 28 March the Federal Labor Party expelled the New South Wales Labor Party for its opposition to the financial policy of the Federal government. Despite various petitions and demands that he dismiss Lang, Game declined to act. Game later informed the Dominions Secretary, James Henry Thomas, on 29 March 1931 that he was not convinced that Lang would lose an election at this time.
In March and June 1931 Lang repeatedly requested the necessary 80 appointments to swamp the council and prevent obstruction to his legislation. Game again refused, offering 21 appointments, which were enough to pass some of the legislation but not the most controversial bills, including the bill to default on debts. Finally, in a compromise move with Lang, on 19 November 1931 Game assented to 25 appointments, reasoning that it would not be possible to refuse Lang's requests until the Privy Council case was resolved. His telegram to the Dominions Secretary the next day explained further: "I foresee if I refuse now I shall most probably be placed in position before long where...I should not be able to stop at twenty five but should have sooner or later to give sufficient appointments to carry rejected legislation. Such numbers might give Government a permanent majority to carry any and every extreme measure, and extreme factions would probably gain ascendancy owing to what they would represent as my obstinate partiality. Should I refuse appointments until appeal case is heard and should it result in abolition extremists would be in an even stronger position. After reviewing all arguments and considering possibilities I have reached conclusion that my proper and wiser course is to accept advice and have done so."
During this Game questioned the result if Lang won the appeal to the Privy Council and the Legislative Council was abolished. Various correspondence between him and London confirms that had Lang succeeded, Game may have refused assent to the abolition bills, thereby making it the first time it had been withheld since 1708. This potential situation disappeared, however, with the judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on 31 May 1932. The judgment dismissed the appeal by the Government of New South Wales. The bills repealing Section 7A and abolishing the Legislative Council could not therefore be presented to the Governor for assent until they had been passed in a referendum. Faced with other problems, Lang's plans for abolition ultimately failed. His successor as Premier, Bertram Stevens, later passed major reforms to replace the appointed Legislative Council, by a Council elected by the whole parliament to terms equivalent to four Assembly terms. This was passed by referendum in 1933.