A GREAT COLONIAL SECRETARY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22468, 11 July 1936, Page 1 (Supplement)

A GREAT COLONIAL SECRETARY

Joseph Chamberlain's Day

By MATANGA

HOW Joseph' Chamberlain became Colonial Secretary 'is worth telling again as his centenary is celebrated. Lord Salisbury's Unionist Ministry, formed in the stirring days of 1595, was remarkable for its inclusion of strong men This accounts, no doubt, for its regime's outlasting of Queen Victoria's reign, with the endorsement of emphatic majorities in two general elections. In the choice of bis men Salisbury showed wisdom. He may have known that England had no' love for coalitions, but he knew also that it loved weak partyrule much less. There could be abuses either way. Sagely he determined to make this combination impressively stalwart. On Sunday, June 2.'5, lie received tl lo Queen's Commission. Within fortv-ei< T hfc hours he formed his joint administration'. At noon on Monday Chamberlain and the Duke of Devonshire having exchanged views at the latter's house in the morning, went to Lord Salisbury's, whither they found Arthur Balfour had also been summoned. The four, two Conservatives and two Liberal-Unionists, were ouickly at. work. As policy lines had been .already the subject of agreement, the distribution of the chief portfolios was at once approached by Lord Salisburv: Balfour's selection as First Lord of' the Admiralty was taken for granted, but the other posts were all available for choice. The Whole Field Open

The Dnko cf Devonshire preferred not to become Foreign Minister. Salisbury then asked Chamberlain about his wishes, and lie replied that, although he had desired to take the Colonies, he would take the War Office if it were thought he could be more useful in it. (War Office reform was at that time much in mind, and Chamberlain's marked business ability was held by many to fit him particularly for this work.) Salisbury suggested the Home Office, but Chamberlain said he had not thought of it, and did not think he would like it. He was told that the whole field was open to him: if he preferred the Chancellorship of the Exchequer there was no reason why he should not have it. "I said I had told Goschen I should not put forward my claims for that office," runs Chamberlain's memorandum of the meeting, "and again said I should prefer the Colonies—in the hope of furthering closer union between them and the United Kingdom." The next day all was happily settled, nnd Chamberlain got his wish. Even political opponents could find little reason for voicing displeasure at the choice of the new Colonial Secretary. For cne thing, it had never been regarded as an appointment of first rank; at the best, it was generally deemed a very subordinate attachment of tbe War Office. For another, Chamberlain was known to have good gyaiifieations for it. At all events, his thoughts had long turned that way. In ISS6 he had told Gladstone this, and in 1887, to the future Mrs. Chamberlain, he had said that, while he did not expect to hold office again, if any chance came he would like above all to be Colonial Secretary, for "lie saw work to be done." Arrival of a New Era So the new Colonial Secretary, at last where his heart had long been, came on July 1, 1895, to the office that he was to make a vital unit in the Government. Almost at once the elections were'to take him away campaigning in a notable victory for the Unionist cause, so that not until the beginning , of August could he address himself to his duties in real earnest. But even when ho took formal charge and met the leading men of the department they sensed the arrival of a new era. Within a few weeks they were to feel his quickening touch everywhere, and the whole staff was to know it had a chief beside whom his predecessors seemed little more than shadows. One observer of the change had deep delight in it. This was Miss Flora Shaw, principal contributor to the Times on colonial affairs. She was afterward to become Ladv Lugard. Miss Shaw had said to Chamberlain on first meeting him, iiv« years before, " What the Empire wants, above all, is a great Colonial Secretary to pull it together." His reply had been "You will have to wait a generation lor that." Now he was himself Colonial Secretary, and she watched closely what was happening. Later slio voiced her gratification about it:

The change at the Colonial Office was marvellous; it was a total transformation; the sleeping city awakened by a touch. Everyone in the department felt it, and presently everyone in the Colonial Service felt it to the furthest corners and the loneliest outposts of the Queen's Dominions. Before, it had been a leisurely and sleepy place—such a thing as a Colonial Minister standing up to a Prime Minister or to a whole Cabinet in the interests of his Department- never had been known. Ono little detail shows the difference, (load Lord Knutsford had been irreiercntly called by llis subordinates "Peter Woggy," but they called this successor "The Master' The Hour and The Man

Surely the task called for such a waster. Under his direct administration—the position lias altered greatly since then—were.3,soo,ooo square miles of territory occupied by Crown colonies and dependencies—in the Mediterranean, in Asia, in Africa, in the Pacific— stations and islands scattered fl s stars in the sky. in the eleven selfgoverning colonies —Canada was the on 'y " Dominion " among them —were another 7,000,000 square miles, with a population numbering 11,000,000. pvith the Governors and GovernorsGeneral of these he had to be in intimate and responsible contact. Altogether the virtual monarchy he surveyed was about one-fifth of the globe and included 50,000,000 people. In the eyes of one so ardently aware of we opportunity., his office could not bo °f second rank iri the Cabinet. .He had no fear of the burden. His Sixtieth birthday tV-ll between the 'orinal taking over on July 1 and the Au gust day of teal business; but there j\ a 'S not a grey hair in his head, and {us figure was'erect and athletic. Ho eit as young as he looked, and was F'h i S ° an< ' '''"k so for many a year. 1 ted as never before were the 'Korous Empire and the vigorous man. reater Britain was fortunate in „ m K him at the helm, mil e Cou ' t ' i ns pire as well as guide. A lain 6 *^" 6 re °° s 'bat "under Chamberoffice "cP' 1 ;'" 1 '' 1 ' Ol!k '° w:,s il ,1!1|),)y i, m * r Stanley, tlio explorer, coming me frorn the House of Commons late I sa ' ( ' '"is wife, " Well, die t J,' v ° f° r Halfonr, but 1 could m . or "diet lain. He says what lie does > M°^ 0 "~ iU| (l W ' lV — i,n( ' t' icn ' lO i nt , V kro long he was the dominatcounf^° rCe ' n Parliament and tlio thfi rl\' n , as he rose to this height lomal Office rose with him.