Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, MAY 31, 1937. THE NEW PREMIER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 153, 31 May 1937, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, MAY 31, 1937. THE NEW PREMIER.

It is typical of British character that political changes can be effected with a minimum of inconvenience, and with no effect at all on the public welfare. The transition from a Labour to a National Government during the greatest economic crisis in the history of Britain emphasised the adaptability of British people to changes which would have a profound effect in other countries. Mr Baldwin has resigned his Prime Ministership and another Cabinet is now in office with Mr Neville Chamberlain at its head. The machinery that regulates these matters has functioned smoothly and quietly, and British politics and business proceed without the slightest hitch. Such is the method that wins the admiration of foreign people. There is a similarity between Mr Chamberlain’s rise to the nation’s greatest office and that of Mr Baldwin, and it could hardly have been thought that when the National Government came into power in 1981 he would be holding the Prime Ministership within six years. But Mr Chamberlain more than anyone else in British political life to-day is fitted for the great task. Political life was not his early choice. For several years prior to the last Century closing he was engaged in business in the Bahamas, but returning to England ■ he later entered with heart into Birmingham’s' municipal activities, and in four years became Lord Mayor. In December, 1918, he entered Parliament, but unlike Mr Baldwin did not remain long on the back-benches, receiving Ministerial rank in the Conservative Ministry of 1922, and becoming Chancellor of. the Exchequer from 1928 to 1924. In the next Ministry he was Minister of Health for its term, and gave considerable attention to the urgent problem of housing. \Vhen the late Lord Snowden retired from the Chancellorship of the Exchequer after the formation of the National Government Mr Chamberlain was selected for the office, and he has filled it with conspicuous success. His financial processes were in keeping with the soundness of his training. To him the “hard, stern old methods,” as Mr Baldwin described them in paying a tribute to Mr Chamberlain a while ago, were the only way in which Britain could ride out the economic and financial storms that hail broken over the nation. He had to demand sacrifices of the people, just as Lord Snowden did, but he proved'himself, and though his latest Budget has been dominated by the needs of defence, and he has again had to impose a difficult tax, it has fittingly shown the world that Brit-

ain still stands four square to the wind. His revolution in Britain’s trade policy stands pre-emi-nent in his career. What his father failed to do the son has achieved, and British industry today is safeguarded against the perils of uneconomic onslaughts from abroad. An able and industrious man, he has a mind quick to seize essential points and the ability to drive them home to simple telling phrases. He is not given to rhetoric, but is direct in speech and manner, recalling to another generation the illustrious father. Mr Chamberlain appears to have chosen his Ministry well, but several changes have not given it an enthusiastic reception. The chief re-arrangements are that Sir John Simon goes from the Home Office to the Chancellorship of the Exchequer; Mr Duff Cooper to the Admiralty from the War Office; and Mr Oliver Stanley leaves the Board of Education to fill Mr Runciman’s post as President of the Board of Trade. Mr Eden remains in charge of Foreign Affairs, and Sir Samuel Hoare takes charge of the Home Office. Other changes have been made of a less important nature. Mr Chamberlain will be wished a successful career as head of a great people. He has succeeded where both his father and late brother, Sir Austen, failed, and it was their unconcealed ambition to become Prime Minister.