VISCOUNT CECIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20190, 30 August 1927, Page 9

VISCOUNT CECIL

CAUSE OF HIS DECISION. THE GENEVA FAILURE. (Press Association—By Telegraph-Copyright ) LONDON, August 28. Viscount Cecil told the Observer that the real cause of his decision was the failure of the Disarmament Conference, at which he strove his hardest to prevent a breakdown, which would have been avoidable if Britain had been readier to compromise. Viscount Cecil postponed his resignation until Mr Baldwin’s return, because ho wished frankly to make a statement regarding the reasons, and an explanation to Mr Baldwin was the first essential. The Observer adds that the disarmament fiasco lessened the prospects of the League’s Disarmament Committee’s success, resulting in Viscount Cecil’s position becoming most difficult. The Standard says that there have also been Cabinet dissensions over the reduction of the Rhine army, Viscount Cecil contending that its maintenance was opposed to the spirit of the Locarno Pact, while Sir Austen Chamberlain supported the French refusal to agree to a substantial reduction. —Sydney Sun Cable. DECISION CAUSES SURPRISE. EXTREME STEP NOT EXPECTED. LONDON. August 29. (Received August 29, at 7.20 p.m.) The Viscount Cecil mystery has not yet been cleared up. _ He is expected to notify his resignation to Mr Baldwin today, though some are inclined to the belief that Mr Baldwin may have persuaded him during the week-end to defer his resignation till the Geneva Conference is over. The Foreign Office impression _is that Viscount Cecil will join the British delegation. The diplomatic correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says that the threat of resignation took British diplomatic circles by surprise. Though Viscount Cecil’s dissatisfaction was known, the extreme step was unexpected. The possibility was first mentioned at a meeting of the Cabinet on Thursday, which Viscount Cecil did not attendi The Morning Post states that Viscount Cecil’s withdrawal might be regrettable, but it would certainly not trouble the waters of home politics. There was no need to regard seriously the suggestion of a split in the Cabinet. The Daily Express says that to a man of his temperament, resignation must be a constant temptation, whereas to Mr Churchill it would be unthinkable.—A. and' N.Z. Cable. . The third son of the third Marquess of Salisbury (a former Prime Minister), Viscount Robert Cecil has long- been known as an English lawyer and statesman. Vis.count Cecil was educated at Eton and Oxford, and was a prominent speaker of the Oxford Union. He obtained his political experience as one of his father’s secretaries from 1886 to 1888, but he decided to approach a more active political career by way of the Bar/ and was called to the Inner Temple in 1887. He made such progress in his profession that he was able to take “ Silk ” in 1899, establishing his position as a sbund lawyer and a capable advocate. It was not until 1906, however, that he entered Parliament as Conservative member for East Marylebone, and he was one of the principal critics of Mr Birrell’s abortive Education Bill of that year. He has always been a vigilant champion of Church interests, and actively opposed the Deceased Wife’s Sister’s Bill. Ho was also an opponent of the Miners’ Eight Hours Bill, which he termed a “ Socialist ” measure, as well as opposing the Old Age Pensions and the Increment Taxation. Bills. In 1910 he retired from Marylebone, and failed to secure election as a Unionist Free Trader at Blackburn. In the second general election of 1910 ho stood for North Cambridgeshire, but was again defeated. However, he returned to Parliament in 1912—a by-election for the Hitchin division of Herts. He has at all times been a strong advocate of women’s suffrage, and was a leading critic of forcible feeding during the days of militancy. During the Great War he was Under-secretary for Foreign Affairs in the first Coalition Cabinet, and later he became Minister of Blockade, announcing that the Government had decided to abandon the Declaration of London. Viscount Cecil was retained in Mr Lloyd George’s Cabinet in 1916, but he resigned his office on the eve of the general election of 1918, being out of agreement on the question of the Welsh Disestablishment. He took part in the first attempt to fashion the League of Nations in 1919. The following year he attended the first meeting of the League at Geneva as the representative of South Africa, since when he has had a great deal to do with the building up of this international assembly. At one time extreme Tories and visionary Radicals thought they saw in him the leader of the future, but when he ultimately took his seat on the Opposition front bench in 1921, he did not carry anyone across the House with him, except his brother, Lord Hugh. Viscount Cecil has no heir, and the title of viscount, which he received in 1915 j. will lapse on his death. He is now 52'"years old.