THE NEW UNIONIST LEADER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15301, 15 November 1911, Page 12

THE NEW UNIONIST LEADER.

Tub election of Mr Alklrow Bonar Law At successor of M* Balfour In the position of leader of tho Unionat party in the House of Oommonii is announced hi the Cable news wo publish this morning. Mr Law is a Cahiidiaii by blTlh, and is now fifty-two year* of age. Ho made his fortune as a Glasgow iron merchant before he entered political life, .thus emulating the example of Mr Joseph Chamborlain, whose tfikt doughty hcnchman 4ia wa& destined ro be in the cause of tariff refohn.., Af Mr Law. first took his'seat In the Hmrae .of Osmmoni in 1900 hi 3 advartcemdhl to the leadership of the great party to which ho belongs has been strikingly rapid. Ho attained celebrity at one bound by n epcecli when ho tvas yet a new member of tho Imperial Parliament. The occasion was a discussion on the proposal for tho imposition of a duly on corn in the seventh and last Budget brought down by Sir Michael Hltks-Ikacli in 1902. One who waa pres&nt nt the time described tho incident ih the following ternlst "Tho diaciuiioh brought to tho fr6nt a new member who lias ein& gone far And ie fitili only nt tho beginning of hto course, Mr Itoiwf Law. His speech oil the report of the resolution impeding tho duties was a really remaikablo ..effort, which greatly pleased members on both sides of the House, tuid nobody more than Mr Balfour. ile fteomod to speak Villi tho full practical knowledge of a roan of bnsiixes, but with the detachod and theoretical method of a Scottish metaphysician.

. . . From thai day Mr Bonar Law had the ear of the House* and id hot likely to lone it." When" on the retirement of Lord Salisbury Mr Balfour assumed the office of Primo Minister, one of the moat interesting among tlio new appointments was that of Mr Donar I<aw as Parliamentary Secretary to tlio Board of Trade, ami the seat in the Government, thus secured by him,,within two yelni of th<J date tif life flfst «k>6tion to Parliament, was retained by him until the defeat of tho Balfour Administration in 1905, Mr Bonar Law lost his seat nt the ecriernl election of JOO6, which was so disastrous for the Unionist*, but wa< suteei)uently rtturued tor Dlllwich. This ssat,-however, being accounted a safe one for his party, he abandoned at ihe election of last December In order to contest North-west Manchester in the interests of tariff reform ( of which ho is regarded as, after Mr Chamberlain, the forcmcat champion, By this step Mr Bonar Ltiw threw out a challenge to tho Libfcralfl in the heart Of a Free trade district) and did so unsuccessfully, but a few months later a l>y-etection afforded him the opportunity of reentering Parliament, During his comparatively brief career la jwdilicfl Mi JJonar Law lim established a reputation as a debater.

Tltcro arc eevml eircufnetancc.? which give a spocial interest to Mr Bonar Law's appointment to the loaderchtl! of tho Unionifsts with tiw posaible reversion of the Prime Ministership. Hfi is the first imin of' coloni.il birth to occupy the exalted poei'ion of the lender of one of the traditional political parties in tho United Kingdom, and, with the exception of ISenJamin Disraeli, the first parliamentary leaded who owes ever)thing to' merit and nothing to birth nW feocial position. The acreptanco of him by the Unionist party m Mr Balfour's itieocwor apparently indicate* thslt henceforth tariff reform will definitely bo the rallying cry of the official Opposition. It may al*o mean more—nothing Ices than tho revival of that Tory democracy which with Disraeli was a dream and nothing more, but' under tho direction of the ehrcwd conirrrcrcial instincts of Mr Honnr Littr miy be—m Mr Maurice Wcvds putrf it in tho Fortnightly Review—" the mad ui power." Another elauso in Mr Woods's articlc to which we have referral merits attention as a possible but, we think, sanguine forecast of the political future in tho Mother Country! "The followers of Disnujli will torn to tho dawn of a new national day. Thev •will contemplate tho brilliant prospect which now opens boforo them—a nation secured by tAriffs and wcial measures in ttxkkUial peace and prosperity and rwdy In defend that prosperity by force of ante. Liberalism is debarred by its history from accepting the tariff j Toryiara ii impelled by its traditions to accept tho wotal rtform. Toryism dan therefore march along a *uM road to victory under the conjoint programme.' 1