MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13455, 4 June 1907, Page 4

MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

The hopes entertained for the complete recovery 'of Mr. Chamberlain will be dispersed ' by the' babied report of the weakened condition in which "he has returned to London. The winter spent in the genial climate of the South of France * has not fully,restored• him to health and this, with the advanced age of the great statesman,/ must be regretfully taken as indication that he may never again be •? able to lead the Tariff Reformers in a political campaign. His exhausting labors at the last ; British elections, wlien night after night he addressed great audiences at;V different' and <■• distant centres, evidently sapped the ; strength of one of the most strenuous of modern statesmen. From retirement he may still influence the councils of the Tariff Reformers, but we must take it for anted that his , fighting days are over, In admitting this, the millions of colonials who recognise his ceaseless efforts on behalf of Imperial unity will unite, in a grateful tribute of appreciation. In a long and active life, passed in a period •of extraordinary transition, he has kept in the forefront of political movements as few, indeed, have done before him. Without agreeing with or endorsing all his views and contentions, colonial public opinion has unquestionably accepted him as the' one. great English politician whose sympathies have been as wide as the English race. While he was in the Colonial Office he gave the colonies a confidence before unknown in the possibility of harmonious cooperation , between Britain and Greater Britain; and since his resignation of office he has fought for an ideal in which every loyal colony has been heartily at his side. ; It is not {practical; to lament the loss to the Imperial reciprocity movement which is entailed by the withdrawal of ■ his masterful personality from active politics. We should rather rejoice that he was able to '\ place the movement on a sound basis, and to bring the preferential question from comparative;obscurity into the arena of pressing political problems. This will be the unanimous colonial view, whether his remaining days be few or-many and as for the United Kingdom, the fiscal theories he enunciated are those which are certain to prevail. For the times are with them, though; the mart :who r gave them concrete form may not live to see their triumph. . ~ .