bout de papier, Vol. 25, No. 3 (2010) — Fall 2010 // Automne 2010, pp. 22–23
My cousin Max Forsyth-Smith died in December 2008. The Halifax Chronicle carried a brief account of his distinguished career with the Trade Commissioner Service. He was a descendent of Nathaniel Guy, a participant in Britain’s conquest of Jamaica in 1626, whose heirs, after settling on the “Island”, found their way to Nova Scotia by the end of the 19th century. Among them was his father and my maternal uncle, John Forsyth-Smith (1878-1933) regarded as a family hero when, just out of high school, he supported a widowed mother and her four children before taking a degree at Queen’s. After subsequent jobs in Nova Scotia and British Columbia as a teacher and an editor he ended up in London in 1910 as an early member of the Commercial Intelligence Service. Max was born in Liverpool in 1919 where his father was posted.
For his part, John Forsyth-Smith played a major role in improving the pay and working conditions of our predecessors, all pre- PAFSO. According to the “Official History of the Department of Trade and Commerce” by O. Mary Hill, salaries and classifications did not keep pace with expenses. “Officers in posts abroad sent home sad tales of their financial plight. One of the saddest came from J. Forsyth-Smith in Liverpool. He called it a ‘literal and dispassionate statement of a deplorable situation.’ He was left with £5 after covering his living expenses including business entertainment costs out of a yearly salary of a mere £3,500.”
On the death of his father in 1933, Max returned to Nova Scotia, graduating from Acadia University with a Masters in economics. He joined the army early in 1942. A captain, he served for four years in Italy and France in the celebrated West Nova Scotia Regiment and was mentioned in dispatches. I met him later that year when his training as a young infantry officer brought him to a battle school on a ranch near ours a few miles from Vernon, BC. He stayed with us for a few days adding no end of excitement to me as a 10-year-old. Possibly this influenced my decision to join the foreign service; it could not be entirely bad if it attracted the attention of kin like Max and his father.
Joseph Varner, Special Advisor to the Minister of National Defence, served with Max in the West Novas and admired him greatly. “Max,” he wrote, “was awarded his MID for ‘Gallantry in the Face of the Enemy’ for his part in the action of the Lamone River crossing in December 1944. He was wounded by shrapnel and recommended for the award of the Military Cross. He was a dedicated patroller and led every patrol that he sent out on the grounds that he could not order his people outside the wire unless he went himself. It was a policy he carried through the entire war. It caught up to him at the Lamone River which was a particularly hard fought battle. In true Max fashion, after recovering from his wounds he went back and carried on as he had left off — leading patrols. That is bravery.”
Max joined the Trade Commissioner Service in 1946. He served in Wellington and Sydney from 1948-1955 and Hong Kong in 1956. Ottawa, it seemed, was thinking about recognizing the People’s Republic of China and taking full advantage of the Chinese market. He was kept there for six years until 1962. In response to an offer from the (Canadian) Imperial Bank of Commerce, he joined their ranks until 1964. He was persuaded to return to the “mother house” and was in Ottawa from 1967-1973. He was Consul and Trade Commissioner in Dallas for a brief period, Consul General in Dusseldorf until 1977, followed by a few years as Regional Director General in Halifax. To end his distinguished career the government invited him in 1980 to serve as Minister Commercial in London where he had lived in his youth and had attended his father’s funeral at St. Martins-in-the-Field.
Bill Miner, a former ADM at Agriculture Canada, served under Max in Hong Kong: “Max was an accomplished, loyal and honourable gentleman and certainly one of Canada’s best Trade Commissioners in a period when representation abroad played a key role in Canada’s emergence as an important industrial nation. On his posting to Hong Kong in 1956, interest in the potential of the Chinese market in the post-war period was just emerging and Max made this his first priority. Diplomatic relations with the Communist administration had not yet been established by Canada or other Western nations, an embargo on trade in strategic materials was in place after the Korean War and the US maintained a complete embargo on political and economic relations with the new regime.
“Max was the first to act on the prospects of China making substantial imports of grain by urging Ottawa to authorize direct contact to pursue Canadian sales. He initiated discussions with the manager of China Resources Company (their commercial arm in the Bank of China in Hong Kong), who he and Gladys entertained at home. He asked permission to visit Beijing and insisted that Ottawa assign an Assistant Trade Commissioner to his office, preferably one with an agricultural background.
“Hazel and I arrived in Hong Kong in December of 1956. Typical of the care and support that Max gave his staff, he met us on board the President Wilson, took us for a drive in our new Chevy Bel-Air hard-top which was sitting on the dock awaiting us, toured Kowloon to view our temporary home that he had arranged, and took us to the Hong Kong Club to meet his wife Gladys for lunch. He urged us to try the best Indian curry in the Colony — that nearly blew our tonsils out — while he introduced us to his great nus “Max was the first Canadian official to visit the People’s Republic of China. He travelled to Beijing in early 1957 and was treated as an official guest while being reminded that his passport was not valid in China. This prepared the ground for our very productive trade relationship. That year the China Resources Company ordered 10 cargoes of Canadian wheat. My first major assignment was to meet Chinese officials to explain the qualities, grades and marketing of Western wheat. Max deserves full credit in opening the door to our valuable grain trade with China.
“These initial imports were handled by agents of the Canadian Wheat Board who were not exposed to US Treasury constraints, and conducted in Swiss Francs and convertible Sterling. After further visits by Max, by CWB officials (and myself with John Small in 1958), the first large-scale sales were negotiated. The Minister, Alvin Hamilton, flew to Hong Kong to initial a copy of the contract signed in Beijing. While he did take political credit for the first large wheat sales to China, and facilitated the trade by supporting the extension of government-backed credit, Max was instrumental in initiating the business.”
Max and Gladys retired to Halifax. In recognition of his war service and the regiment’s regard for him, he was asked to serve as the Honourary Lieutenant Colonel of the West Nova Scotia Regiment. He left a lasting impression on all who knew him. As Joseph Varner also wrote: “J was struck by the fact that he was always a gentleman, even when being gracious was not warranted; Max was extremely intelligent, had a great sense of humour, and like so many of his generation thought that he had been singled out for an award that others might have deserved. ‘Humble’ Max always would comment that ‘so and so’ deserved far greater recognition than he received during the war. He was a man of great personal dignity and I think carried himself very much as a diplomat should or would want to.”
Note: This is an abridged version of a tribute prepared by Robert Middleton and Max’s friends and protégés. The full text is available from Mr. Middleton at: [email protected].
View the original scanned pages →
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 25, No. 3 (2010) — Fall 2010 // Automne 2010, pp. 22–23. Read the rest of this issue →
