SIR DOUGLAS HOGG

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 190, 14 May 1928, Page 8

SIR DOUGLAS HOGG

THE NEW LORD CHAN- . CELLOR

“LAWYER FIRST—POLITICIAN AFTERWARDS”

Dominion Special Service.

London, April 5.

To be added to the brilliant roll of Lord Chancellors of England at the comparatively early age of 55, and after only six years of Parliamentary service is something of which Sir Douglas Hogg has every reason to be proud. There was never a more popular law officer in the House; always approachable, always courteous to members of the Opposition as to his own party. If only party considerations had to be served

he would have remained at Mr. Baldwin's side, but Sir Douglas Hogg had always been a lawyer first And a politician afterwards, and no one can blame him for accepting the Lord Chancellorship—the greatest.prize his profession can offer. Mr.

Baldwin might have chosen to make a temporary appointment by asking Viscount Sumner to act for a year, but in that, case Sir Douglas Hogg might have missed the prize, just as Sir John Simon did. It was not an unreasonable hope that some day Sir John might have been Prime Minister of England, so he refused the Woolsack, and hitherto has not had opportunity. In accepting the office of Lord Chancellor Sir Douglas Hogg becomes Keeper of the King's Conscience and the Custodian of the Great Seal, which has been the greatest emblem of authority, except the Crown, in this country for many a century,, and is never allowed to go out of the country. As Lord Chancellor, he holds the only judicial position which has any political significance, for not only is he a member of the Cabinet, but he presides over the House of Lords, and, unlike the Speaker of the Commons, is entitled to engage in controversy.