WAR OFFICE JOBBERY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4208, 17 November 1900, Page 4

WAR OFFICE JOBBERY.

A notable feature of the recent general election in tho Old Country was the violent- attack made upon Mr Chamberlain by certain Liberal newspapers and members of the Liberal party, with whom the desire to “give Joe a fall"’ seems to have become almost a mania. The gravest of all the many serious charges levelled against the Secretary of State for the Colonies was ho and Ids relations wore directly interested in certain contracts for war material and s upplies for tho Navy being given to : companies in which the Chamberlain yfamily were large shareholders. • Espojrcially serious was the charge referring to the supply of cordite by Messrs ilvynoch. In a pamphlet issued by a [London Liberal paper and headed, “A iFew Facts Ahout Government Contracj tors,” it is stated that Mr Chamberlain’s brother, Mr Arthur Chamberlain,.

i, tin; Clmhman <;f Kynuih., r.iul that no K-’.vcr than ”-t ; 6 1:1 ‘he w'iopany, valued at bH4,lil. are in th;: pcse y-ion of member- of iho „Chnmbemin family. The "Morning Leader,” Urn journal which m 'am o tito-e lads, pe ■- coed-, to point out that whoa the suppiv of vorelito was inquired into hy a Putliar.mmary committee. it \v.t< proved that Kynoclis’ prices were higher than tho.-v of other firms. that Mr Powell Williams, otic of Mr Chamberlain s j-nlowers and hie tin vial Secretary to the Mar Office, privately allowed ivynoohs. and Ivvmaais alone, to alter their lenders, and that •a 'urge order was then raven to the finn. The percentage ot Kynoen-. cordite- rejected a;, unfit was higher than that of any other competing firm--ac-tually reaching 43 per cent- in certain contracts, and the Chief Inspector of !<a\al Stores stated that the linn was “nioro behindhand than any ether linn iii its deliveries.” Summing up the history of the Kyuceh contracts, the “Morning Leader” says ; — "KynochT cordite, iu short, was the worst, lnc dearest and the most, mipunchully delivered. Yet they got the orders'.'’ Other ugly insinuations were made ii. the ease of the Hoskins Company a company in which the shares are mainly

in <!,. V ,„-M of Mr Chamberlain's immediate family circle, Ins wife holding 3000 £-3 preference shares, taro of hi-: sous 4600 X'-j shares, and two of his daughters 301 shares. Although Hoskins, Limited, are contractors to the Admiralty, Mr Austen Chamberlain, sen of the Colonial Secretary, and himself a Civil Lord of the Admiralty, ojvns GOO £3 shaves in the company. The tiirmingham Small Arms Company, winch also has dealings with the. War Office, had at one time more'Chamberlains amongst its shareholders, but the family disposed of its interest- in, 1899. In “Tubes, Limited,” a concern the Chairman of which, Mr Arthur Chamberlain, declared in December last year, did practically the whole of Its trade with the Admiralty, various members of the Chamberlain family arc very heavily interested, holding some shares, and of yet another firm, Elliott's Metal Company, much the same story has to bo- told. The inference drawn from all those facts was that Mr Chamberlain was personally interested in the war. It is needless to quote the strong and bitter language in which the family’s connection with naval and military contracts has been denounced. For some days Mr Chamberlain appears to have treated the charges with contempt,, but whether it was that lie w as “drawn” by the hostile cc-mmonts of a number of newspapers, or that pressure was brought to bear upon him by his own party to make' some reply, a letter written by his secretary eventually appeared, in which it was stated that tho Colonial Secretary's influence had never been exerted, directly or indirectly, with the object, of obtaining Government contracts for his relations.

This explanation was dealt with rather •severely by -several influential journals. The “Daily Chronicle” puts the real point at issue very temperately and properly in tho following terms; “Mr Chamberlain’s answer misses; tho point of objection. What has been urged is that the principle was bad which permitted a. company practically consisting of relatives of two members of tho Government to tender for Government contracts. We desire our public life and tho members of our Civil Service to. bo above suspicion; but when a company of such composition obtains orders, whether large or small, from one of the public departments, no matter how fairly, an al : mospherc of distrust is apt to bo created. 'Moreover, there must he a certain temptation to oflieials now and again to incline towards a candidate connected with one who may become t he head of tho department to which they belong. It may be. of national importance, as Mr Powell Williams maintained last night at Kidderminster, to keep open a number of independent sources of supply in such articles as munitions of war, but on the, whole we arc of opinion that the purity of our public life is tho higher concern of the two.'' Some surprise has been • expressed, both in New Zealand and Australian journals, at line faet that Mr Chamberlain has not been chosen to succeed Lord Lansdowne .it the War Oflicc, but the probability' is that, backed even as he is by a powerful majority, Lord Salisbury has shrunk from the public clamour that would have followed such an appointment. One result of the exposures may' bo looked for in a renewal of the agitation for a law declaring that those interested in public companies dealing with the State shall not occupy .seats in the Ministry. Tim charge of War Office jobbery may not have hr. |. proved in tho instance under notice;' hut the facts disclose, a state of things that justly’ gives rise to the gravest suspicions.