THE LATE "C.B." ELECTIONEERING.

Evening Star, Issue 12982, 19 June 1908, Page 5

THE LATE " C.8." ELECTIONEERING.

A Scottish correspondent who cm manv occasions accompanied Sir Henry Camp" bell-Bannerman on the tour of "his constituency recalls the rare feeling of intirraato friendship that grew up between the late Premier and his political supporters, more especially in the outlying parts of tho Stirling Burghs. Culross, he writes to the Manchester ' Guardian,' is one of the Stirling Burghs, and is an the "fringes of Fife." Old-fashioned inns, quaint houses, and an ancient hall to which entrance is gained by an outside stone stair are the main attractions of the few small streets. Sir Henry CampbellBannerman never omitted Culross from his regular visits to the constituency. The meetings were political curiosities. They took place in the hall to which I have referred, an apartment not much larger than a good-sized dining room. There was no gaslight. On the mantelshelf of an antiquated fireplace two small Dil lamos shed a dim litrht. Five or six ie<vspaoer reporters found places at a table it one side n-f the room, and were accommodated with three or four candles, which aided them in their work and assisted the general illumination. T have seen seven, ten, or it mi;:ht b» fifteen honest country folk enter the half shyly and each receive a hearty shake of the hnjid and a kindly greeting from their member. These numbers constituted the usual attendance. On one occasion I counted more. That was when Sir Henry returned to his constituency as Prime Minister during the general "election of 1906. lie did not forget .Culross.' The occasion d*ew a record audience of some forty or

fifty people, who found it hard to squeeze' into the room. Sir Henry, with his back to the fireplace, on which rested the two paraffin lamps, with his face in the shade and without a table in front of him, dedently impressed by the unusual size of the gathering, for afterwards he told t<. some of us the story of his smallest meeting there. At eight o'clock, the hour ol the meeting, the audience consisted of twn electors. One of them moved that his neighbor take the chair, and thereupon declared the motion carried. At the clo?e of Sir Henry's speech the chairman moved a vote of confidence, which was seconded by his companion auditor. Careful that every recognised form of procedure should, be duly observed, the chairman then put the motion, and declared it to have been adopted unanimously. As Mr Asquith, in his tribute to the deceased statesman, said : " No one had a keener eye to the humors and ironies of a political situation." Perhaps that was one reason why Culross had such a warm corner in Sir Henry's heart.