LIFE AND CAREER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22741, 29 May 1937, Page 19

LIFE AND CAREER

BUSINESS' EXPERIENCE

BIRMINGHAM MAYORALTY

LATE ENTRY INTO POLITICS

[WORK' IN HEALTH MINISTRY

Mr. Neville Chamberlain is a son of Joseph Chamberlain by the hitter's second marriage. Joseph Chamberlain's first wife was formerly Miss Harriet Kenrick and Sir Austen Chamberlain, •who died recently, was a son of this marriage. Five years after his first ■wife's death, Joseph Chamberlain- married her cousin, Miss Florence Kenrick, and Neville Chamberlain was born on March 18, 1869. The two younger Chamberlains who have since carried oil their father's name in British politics were thus more closely related than is usual with halfbrothers. Business and Local Politics Neville Chamberlain was educated at Rugby • and Mason College, Birmingham, and for seven years was engaged in commercial enterprises in the Bahamas. The Chamberlain family has a traditional association with local government in the Midlands and it was only natural that after Neville Chamberlain's return home he should enter the municipal life of the city, where bis father was regarded almost with reverence. He became chairman of the Town-Planning Committee of the Birmingham City Council in 1911 and an alderman <• three years later. He was Lord .Mayor of Birmingham in 1915 and during his term of office in local government he established an enviable reputation as a most competent administrator with a genius for getting things done

Indeed, Chamberlain's reputation Win such that Lloyd George was eager to make -use of his services during the war vears. He was an active member of the Central Board of Control, dealing with liquor supplies, and in December, 1916, Lloyd George appointed him Director-General of National Service. This was an ill-defined post for the coordination of civil and military employment and Chamberlain, whose talents hsd probably not matured, did not make a success of it. Entry Into Parliament For some years Neville Chamberlain turned a deaf ear to requests that he should enter national politics. His elder halt-brother had taken his seat in the House of Commons at the age of 27; and it -was not until 1918 that the younger man, then in his 50th year, decided to stand for the Ladywood division of Birmingham. He won ±he seat for the Conservatives. He has remained in the House ever since, representing first the Ladywood and then the Edghaston division.

The new Prime Minister came into Parliament as a man who had not only served a full apprenticeship in business and in , local government, but also as one whose name carried with it something of a hereditary lustre. At first sight he did not appear to have those gifts of personality which are usually expected of a leading statesman. He had not his father's gift of fervid, picturesque and often ruthless oratory, nor did he possess the polished urbanity which his be-monoclcd half-brother brought to the conduct of foreign affairs. But it was early apparent that he had notable gifts of organisation and all his father's-pertinacity in his method of approach to problems of magnitude. Seat in the Cabinet Neville Chamberlain had been in Parliament only four years when Mr. Bonar Law'appointed him PostmasterGeneral in his Conservative Government. It was a Government which Lord Birkenhead irreverently described as " one of second-class brains," and Neville Chamberlain, still an obscure figure in the political sense, was in'eluded, while Austen Chamberlain paid the penalty for loyalty to Llovd George and his fated Coalition. The younger Chamberlain, it must be admitted, had never been a strong Coalitionist. In ]S)2.'5 Neville Chamberlain became Minister of Health, with a seat in the Cabinet, and in this capacity he was responsible' for the Housing and Rent Kestriction Acts over which there was considerable controversy at the time. Bi that same year Mr. Reginald McKeiina declined the Chancellorship of Exchequer, and Mr. Baldwin, who fiad surprisingly succeeded Mr. Bonar Law as Prime Minister, offered the post to Jlr. Neville Chamberlain. The offer accepted, but the Government fell before the new Chancellor had time to present his first Budget. Turning Point in Career

Perhaps the year 192-5 marked the turning point in Mr. Chamberlain's career. After Bonar Law's death, there sprang up a strong political friendship between Mr.. Baldwin and his new lieutenant. Both were businessmen from the Midlands whom the march of events had carried with dramatic suddenness to high office. In most other respects J t appeared to be a companionship of °Pposites—Baldwin, the country squire of the educated type, with his pipe, his mve of the classics and his habit of Hewing modern problems in the light °f history." and Chamberlain, the determined man of business, ignoring finesse 3>id demanding from his subordinates his own high standard of efficiency. Ijecent years, however, have tended to show Baldwin and Chamberlain as an ideal "'team."

. Ihe Conservatives returned to power in November. 1924, and Mr. Chamberlain took office as Minister of Health, lor the first time he began to show his

supreme competence as an administrator. His Derating Bill Mas regarded as the most thorough reconstruction of local government since the Poor Law of IS3-1. It involved a scheme for. derating productive industries and freeing agriculture altogether from rating burdens. In spite of his excellent Parliamentary and administrative work, it was only at the start of the present decade that Mr. Chamberlain gained real prominence. This occurred when he took oyer the chairmanship of the Conservative Party, and reopened negotiations with Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere on the question of Imperial trade preference and tariff reform. In less evangelistic fashion, but with just as great sincerity, he revived his father's gospel of Empire trade and preached it through his party. The dark days of 193] saw a National Government brought into being. For a time Philip Snowden (the late Viscount Snowden) was Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he stood firmly by his principles of free trade, and on his resignation he was succeeded by Mr. Chamberlain. The six years which have followed have marked a period in which Mr. Chamberlain, for all his reserve and dislike of the limelight, has grown immeasurably in political stature. Empire Trade and Defence In the National Government, Mr. Chamberlain's first great task was to translate into practice the theories of Imperial preference which he had inherited from his father. As soon as he accepted office, traders realised that an increased tariff was imminent, and there was an enormous rush of imports. Without batting an eyelid, Mr. Chamberlain came to light with a drastic anti-dumping bill, regarded at the time as a fiscal measure as uncompromising as any in British history. He then proceeded to build gradually the structure of Empire trade on the basis that the Dominions were entitled to a regular and expanding share of the British market. Foreign commitments and the demands of British producers frequently constituted difficult obstacles; Mr. Chamberlain continued on his way quietly, but with an amazing tenacity of purpose. He showed himself to be fully in touch with realities and was never led into errors purely by the pursuit of an hereditary ideal. A Dominant Figure During the last two or three years, Mr. Chamberlain has become the dominant figure in British politics and it was considered inevitable that he should succeed Mr. Baldwin when the latter chose to retire. As far back as 19-33. Mr. S. K. Ratcliflfe, the Liberal publicist, said: "There is at present no man in the field who could hope to stop Neville Chamberlain." With Mr. Baldwin adopting more and more the aloof attitude in everyday affairs, Mr. Chamberlain frequently became the official mouthpiece of the Government; to such an extent that Mr. Lloyd George, in the House of Commons last yar, observed that " the heir to the throne was trying on the crown in public." Mr. Robert Bernays. M P., a wellinformed commentator on British politics, regards Mr. Chamberlain as anything but a hide-bound Tory. "As Chancellor of the Exchequer," Mr. Bernays says in a recent article, "he can never be accused of relieving the rich at the expense of the poor The moment that he found himself in the position to remove some of the more savage cuts imposed by the financial crisis he made the unemployed the first charge on his surplus. *' Parliamentary Ability

In reference to Mr. Chamberlain as a House of Commons man, Mr. Bernays states: "He is not a scintillating speaker, but he radiates confidence, for he is always complete master of his brief. On occasion he can castigate the Opposition with a merciless invective, reminiscent of the mighty Joseph Chamberlain himself. He is the one man on the Government bench whom the Opposition not merely respect, but fear. Mr. Chamberlain will restore the Premiership to its old importance. He will make it his business to know the details of all major bills, and will make his influence felt in every department."

Mr. Chamberlain has frequently paid tribute in public to the sympathy and assistance he has received in his public life from his wife, who was formerly Miss Annie Vere Cole. They were married in 1911 and have one son and one daughter