WHY LORD LEE GAVE CHEQUES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1073, 21 July 1924, Page 12

WHY LORD LEE GAVE CHEQUES.

DANGER OF LABOUR IN CONTROL. “A pretty prognostic is being fulfilled in the person of die Prime Minister at Chequers,” says the Daily Express. “The last time Lord Leo stayed there, before giving up his homo to the Prime Ministers, he was filled, like one of the old seers, with the spirit of prophecy. He was leaning over a gate, looking at his purebred Hereford*, when the inspiration came upon him. I look forward to the day—he said to Ins companion—‘when a Labour Prime Minister shall bo in power, and shall come down here, like King Arthur, to ‘cure him of his grievous wound.’ lie explained what that mental and moral ‘wound’ was. ”lhe great danger of Labour in control.’ he argued, ‘is that the experience of Ministers will have been wholly in towns, and their minds, and interests will have become absorbingly urban and oppidan. My hope is that they will come down here to Chequers and unconsciously absorb the spirit of the deep, deep country.’ Ho pointed to that green and spacious valley, cut off from the world, a thousand miles in spirit from London, a piece of English England of irresistible influence. Ho spoke of tho power of Chequers thus directly preserving the health of the English people through their Ministers. ‘lt’s work,’ he said in effect, ‘is to deurbaniso the minds of British rulers, especially if they have been bred in towns. ’