THE COLONIAL SECRETARY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1021, 10 January 1911, Page 6

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY.

LORD CREWE DESCRIBED. Lord Crewe is not at all the typical' nobleman in appearance. The typical noblempn, as one may see him. in large numbers in the House of Lords just now, is, to tell the truth, rather commonplace, and one needs to be-told-that he is not a successful stockbroker.'or the prosperous head of a .dry goods business! Lord Crewe, on.the other.hand, is quite of the-patrician cast, as . expected by the public. is one of about half a dozen membeTs. of the. .Ribblesdale is another —for Whose names the curious visitor -asks his guide when taking a peep from the Bar. As a speaker he is rather disappointing to the casual listener.. He has a fastidious literary taste, and the apposite word does .not always come quickly ,to his lips. But it comes sooner or later, and for that reason Lord Crewe's speeches always make good reading. His little pauess, as if he were striving conscientiously to find a phrase .of exactly-,the right value, sometimes add' point to his words, and on occasion one has suspected that they were deliberately thrown in to gratify his fine sense'of satire.-. It was one day last' session when Lord Crewe' had to answer a facetious speech from v a peer who is known as one of the few. wags in the House of Lords. "I have greatly enjoyed Lord Blank's— e<r, er, er, er, er— humour," said Lord Crewe. , Unlike that of some other ■ Liberal peers, the sincerity of Lord Crewe's democratic sympathies has never ■ been doubted by the advanced members of his party. He has always, been at least nbreast of his leader, and his defence of Liberal policy in the House of Lords has never lacked courage. The way in which he movedi; the second reading ot Mr. Lloyd George's Budget was highly characteristic of this quality. The House was packed in every part, and the Unionist peers were', impatient to .hear what one' of their own order. could say in support of such an infamous measure. Lord Crewe, sitting on the Ministerial bench, leaned forward, r&sed his hat, and "moved" pro forma. This was "the slight ahd graceful gesture of hand and hat" to which Lord Lansdowne—who has never forgotten it—referred in Monday's debate, and it'was Lord Crewe's curt yet polite way of telling the peers that the discussion of the Finance Act was none, of their business. Lord Crewe is also, one of the few members of the Cabinet who have publicly discussed the possibility of creating a batch of new peers as a way out- of the deadlock. Speaking in April* last to a Winchester audience, he spoke cf this as the recognised constitutional remedy. "And if an occasion for its exercise ever does arise," he added, "it is not a question of the Minister going to the Sovereign .-■•• id ask-, ing ilinv to creato a certain number of peers as a favour, but it is the constitutional exercise of the power of advice by the Minister to the Sovereign."— "Manchester Guardian."