HIS RECORD AND FUTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 249, 20 October 1922, Page 4

HIS RECORD AND FUTURE.

It is impossible to consider the resignation of Mr. Lloyd George without some reference to his services to Britain, the Empire and the world, and to his future. To most people he has boon for some time the greatest living F."gHelmutn, and especially is lie famous as "tlw man who won the war." aiul the chief representative of the British Empire in the making and enforcing of the peace. For a final verdict about Mr Lloyd George's part in the war tiu> world may have to wait, as long :.e it has had to in the ewe of Disraeli, A large amount of evidence hearing on his work has accumulated the armistice, and much of it i- injurious lo the popular legend. There i.«. however, v great deal more to come. We have l<. read his own story, ami Mr. Asquil!i'-< and Karl Haig'a — to mention only three of the leading actors. As the controversy stands now. even a severe critic of Mr. Lloyd George's war record must, if he is fair, acknowledge the great value of the services he gave the cause —hi.s energy, his burning patriotism, his wonderful driving force, his conviction of the necessity for victory, and the impulse he gave to national determination. In Ii is work after the wui he sullcrecl from the consequences of his mistake at the elections of lltlH, and valiantly as lie strove to repair this und to reconcile differences between the settlement and his own memorandum to tho Peace Conference, he did not entirely succeed. His great achievement in domestic, affairs during this period the settlement with Ireland, in effecting which personal service was the outstanding and deciding factor. As for hie future. we may easily believe that he will welcome relief from a burden of office that has been well-nigh too great to be borne, ibut we do not sve him retiring from public life. Politics are in hi? blood, and though he is a tired man he is on the right aide of sixty and enjoys good health. That he will join the Conservatives is inconceivable. He has always bevn a Liberal-Radical, and he will never transfer his allegiance. That he will be Prime Minister again is quite likely. In the meantime, a rest will do him no harm, and it will he th« hope of every earnest Britisher that he will benefit.to the fullest extent, and that his remarkable talents will again be placed at the service of a country for which he has already accomplished so much.