Times Colonist, 6 March 1931

Mr Pauline Comes Home

When Frederick A Pauline went to London as British Columbia’s Agent-General six years ago he renewed an association stretched across a gap of more than forty years.  He was born at Henley-on-Thames, educated at St Mary’s College, Peckham Rye, and came to try his luck in Canada as far back as 1883.  Now, “after many years spent largely depicting the wonders of this province, its might mountains and fertile valleys, its great lakes and noble rivers, its forest wealth and mineral riches, its fish, its fruit and scenic beauties,” he has returned to that part of Canada in which he first made his home nearly half a century ago.

Victoria extends a hearty welcome to Mr Pauline on his arrival home. Our citizens will wish him long years of health and comfort.  He has been an excellent Agent-General; he provide himself to be a very worthy successor to the able officials who preceded him. It is not always possible to assess the value of work done in Great Britain by the province’s official representative. It is a form of advertising service that does not produce such visible returns as cash sales over the counter. But from time to time in the last six years the public of British Columbia has had forceful reminders of the untiring activities of the office at the foot of Regent Street.  The invisible dividend – and, of course, there have been many visible results in the form of new settlers and new capital of no mean volume – must have been very considerable and worth a great deal more than the outlay required to produce it.

The financial aspect of the Agent-General’s office, incidentally, is of more than passing importance to the taxpayers of the province. At one time this fine building, of which all British Columbians who go to London are justly proud, was regarded as a very costly luxury; but all that has changed in the last ten years. Mr Pauline told the Canadian Club in Vancouver the other day that the revenue from BC House – a great part of it is rented – pays interest, sinking fund charges, maintenance and running expenses, and contributes $20,000 a year to the cost of work carried on.  Indeed, the entire cost to the taxpayers in 1929-1930 was less than five thousand dollars – less than the price of three legislators for seven weeks’ work! Since the substantial change in this regard has been made during Mr Pauline’s regime, there is additional justification for saying he has been an excellent Agent-General.