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He A^odemized Canada's Tamed Mounted Police A couple of Canadian snipers spotted one of the machine ?un patrols and were ready to pick the men off as soon as they got settled. Before they had a chance Brigadier-Gen- eral MacBrien beat them to it. By James Montagnes M AJOR-GENERAL SIR JAMES H. MacBRIEN, K. C. B., C. M. G., D. S. O., D. S. C., Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, believes in being up-to-date. That is why, at the age of 48, he took the stiff course for a Royal .Canadian Air Force pilot and came through with flying colors. That is why the Mounties have added a fleet of planes to their mechanized equip- ment. Today patrols of Mounties take to the air on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, with Mounties at the controls. Commissioner MacBrien came up from the ranks. He joined as a trooper of the old North West Mounted Police in 1900, when the force mainly pa- troled the new country of the Canadian west, where settlements were springing up and frontier towns existed. He joined before going to South Africa where he served in the South African Constabulary in the Boer War. He joined the 34th Ontario Regiment in 1896 without the knowledge of his parents. His parents had hopes he would be a teacher. He preferred to be a soldier. For a year he was a Mountie. Then he went to South Africa. He returned to Canada in 1906, and was commissioned in the Royal Canadian Dragoons, then gradual promotion, marriage, and a trip to Australia as an exchange officer. Only the cream of the younger officers get those trips. For two years he lived \down under,\ learning more about his chosen profession, soldiering. As a captain he went to England to the Staff College. He was there in 1914 when the World War broke out, was pro- moted to major, attached.to the Britisn War Office, and went to France wifr the first Canadian contingent. ^FFICIAL and unofficial repojrts cam<. ^ to Canada of his exploits at the wai front. He was mentioned in dispatches six times, was promoted to colonel, and in 1916, at the age of 38, to brigadier- general in command of the 12th Cana- dian Infantry Brigade. Unofficial reports include the story that after one stiff fight he and one of his staff went out in No Man's Land to see if any of the enemy were still about. They walked quite a way, saw no one. Suddenly over a hill they saw a company of 50 Germans. The Ger- mans saw them also, started to fire. Young General MacBrien and his staff officer fired back with their revolvers. The Germans retreated. Some Cana- dians coming up from behind thought the two officers were enemy, opened fire. That was one of the two times MacBrien was wounded. And there is the story of his fond- ness for sniping in the early morning •hours. At one particular spot on his front, enemy machine gunners had a habit of taking their machine guns into No\ Man's Land in the early morning hours, then from some shell hole pick- ing off the Canadians as they showed themselves in their trenches. A couple of Canadian snipers had spotted one of these machine gun patrols and were ready to pick the men off as soon as they got settled. Before they had a chance someone beat them to it. They learned later it was their commanding officer. It was as a young general in 1917 that Commissioner MacBrien first took to the air. He early saw the advantages Some of the aerial Mountie». Nearly all of these men were at one time in the Koyal Canadian Air Force. A Mountie recruit grooming his horse. At. .oagh there are nearly 500 cars and motorcycles in use by the Mounties now, the number of saddle horses available has dwin- dled to 226. of aerial eyes in planning attacks, and frequently went aloft as an observer to plan his next move. When Major-General MacBrien came back to Canada in 1920 it was as chief of staff, the youngest chief of staff in the world, the ranking military officer in the Dominion. His was the job of dismantlihg the big wartime Canadian army and war industry, of establishing a small, efficient, compact post-war force. On several occasions he went to England to keep posted on new devel- opments, for he felt that the best way to delay war was to be prepared with up-to-the-minute data on modern war methods, with a suitably trained force of officers, and the possession of the latest scientific equipment. As chief of staff he also kept informed on military developments among the nations bordering the Pacific Ocean, made a trip to the Orient to study military accomplishments at first hand, and came back with the data and a 300-year-old two-handed Japanese sword. In 1926, Canada's chief of staff be- came a recruit at Camp Borden, train- ing ground for Canada's Royal Air Force. Forty-eight years of age, he suc- cessfully took the stiff course of a mili- tary pilot. Major-General MacBrien found his job as Canada's military chief an ex- pensive one. He had no independent means. He had five children to edu- cate. And a chief of staff must keep up with the capital's social life. So in 1927 he resigned and went back to his mother's farm at Port Perry. But aviation lured him again. He be- Commissioner MacBrien In field uni- form when he was major-general of the Canadian war forces. gan to organize light airplane clubs all over the Dominion. The government gave the clubs one plane for each craft they bought. Amateur aviation enthusiasts pre- sented Major MacBrien with a light plane. It was only a step to commercial aviation and the general managership of the then largest air transport com- pany in Canada. Airmail contracts for his company followed, and for a few years aviation was his work. His eldest daughter Julia took to the air with her father, and became one of Canada's first woman aviators. TN 1931 Commissioner Cortland Starnes of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police retired. He also had come up from the ranks. The government ap- proached former Trooper MacBrien. He accepted, became chief of the Moun- ties at $12,000 a year, and immediately was given the job of adding the police forces of the provinces of New Bruns- wick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, to t^ie R. C. M. P. The provinces wanted a federal police force to look after their police work, except in municipalities. At the same time Commissioner Mac- Brien was asked to take over the Pi-e- ventive Service of the Customs Depart- ment. The seagoing Mounties resulted. Commissioner MacBrien likes horses, plays a good game of polo. But that did not stop him from seeing that the day of the horse as far as the Mounties are concerned is practically finished. Motor cars and motorcycles have replaced them to keep up the fast pace set by today's criminals. There are close to 500 cars and mo- torcycles in use by the force now, while the nearly 3000 Mounties have but 226 saddle horses available. Commissioner MacBrien has used airplanes to a greater extent each year. His work in reorganizing the Moun- ties has not gone without recognition. The late King George V made him Sir James on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1935, promoting the chief of the Mounties from a Com- mander in the Most Honourable Order of the Bath to a Knight Commander in this Order of Chivalry.
