MR CHAMBERLAIN'S RETIREMENT AND PREFERENCE

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8292, 22 September 1903, Page 2

MR CHAMBERLAIN'S RETIREMENT AND PREFERENCE

The Wellington correspondent of the Dunedin Star telegraphs : Regarding the Colonial Secretary's retirement, Sir J. G. Ward expressed the opinion to your representative that his resignation at this juncture was, so far as the colonies .'ire concerned, a matter of regret, inasmuch as Mr Chamberlain had galvanised the Colonial Oiiice into one of vigorous activity, and had created the growth of public opinion in the direction of affecting the movement towards the -solidifying of the Motherland and the colonies into a strong bond of mutual union. It~w«%s useless to close our eyes to the fact that some of the powerful foreign nations with a high protective tariff, which operated most injuriously against both Britain and her colonies, had been commercially gaining ground for many y?ars, and the old condition of affairs that had brought this about required to be met by someone.. In Sir Joseph's opinion, the retirement of Mr Chamberlain from the position that he had so long held had given the movement towards the solution of this difficult problem of trade preference a temporary check, but the life that had been created, as far as the rousing of public opinion was concerned, was bound to go on. ■lt could not stop where it was. He djd not regard the check, from a colonial point of view, in any way as a weakening of that strong loyalty that file colonies felt for the Old Land, nor was he surprised that difficulties presented themselves an the Old World. As a matter f of fact, he had expressed, himself at Napier some months ago to the effect that, while it was comparatively an -easy matter for the colonies tovJlfer a condition favorable to the creation of trade preference, so far as they were concerned, the same comparatively easy course did not lie ahead to British statesmen, and that it would take many years in the Press and on the platform in the way. of education to bring about that change in opinion among the masses of England, as they were practically all of a generation that knew no other than the present fiscal system; but the altered circumstances of recent years and the extraordinary competition of protected rival countries made the movement popular, and especially so among the manufacturing class of the Old World. As he had said, loyalty to the colonies would not be in the slightest degree affected by Mr Chamberlain's retirement, but until a strong public opinion favorable to his policy was created in the minds of the middle classes of the Motherland, the task before British statesmen was distinctly of a character surrounded by 'many and very great difficulties. He had little dcubt that it was only a matter of time when the very necessities of self-preservation in the race for supremacy now- going on in the commerce of the competing nations of the world would force both a grappling with and a settlement, of it upon both the old and | new lands. Mr Chamberlain had commenced it in downright earnest, and the good work so well begun would be voiced :-tr,d espoused in all parts of the Empire, until a. solution was .effected. As in all great movements, it wa s but natural that there wa« not unanimity regarding it; nor could ! :ikbev>.vpfctedtl)ere' would be. It.really reitself into, a question of educating th? British, public, andthe extreme course of Mr Chamberlain's retirement, tliouch it gave the' movement ..a temporary check, would 'have .the effect of rousine public opinion unoii it, with fhe result that many who gave tli.».. question ,but a passing thought would think if. out for themselves, and its earlier consumn\ttion. than otherwise would luive' b°en tiiA case would in all probability ensue. Ths interest* involved were so stupendous tKat it was impossible for it to die. Mr Chamberlain had, ealva.nised it into a, life that would live loner after he..had passed a-jrayvAnd if. wonld firviHy be acniev'ed, and >w!ien done on-, proper Ihiih would add to the power and colitßion of the Empire.