THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2. 1930. LORD BIRKENHEAD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21146, 2 October 1930, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY , OCTOBER 2. 1930. LORD BIRKENHEAD.

There will be felt, even by those who were apt to regard askance the multifarious public activities of the Earl of Birkenhead, very sincere regret that death has cheated him of the success in commercial undertakings which, it might reasonably have been expected, would follow his removal from Downing street to Lombard street. Lord Birkenhead s has been a remarkable career. He was a successful lawyer before he became a prominent politician; his journalistic flair made him a favourite of thousands to whom renown in the law and politics appears comparatively unimportant, and his departure from office in the Unionist Cabinet marked the transference of his talents to a City which welcomed him with generous offers calculated to bring advancement in the world of business. Had he lived to the allotted span of years it is quite probable that, in consistency with the earlier chapters of his life, he would have died a millionaire. It may be that this was Lord Birkenhead s own ultimate ambition, as an established position as business magnate represented one of the few fields awaiting his conquest when he handed his resignation to Mr Baldwin two years ago. It must have been a matter of satisfaction to him that, by resigning when he did, he went out more or less in a blaze of glory and not by the gradual process that, following the General Election,

has removed some of his erstwhile colleagues from the public notice. Lord Birkenhead, indeed, seemed to be destined to stand in the full glare of the spotlight. While he was still at Oxford his rhetorical skill as president of the Union obtained recognition of his abilities. F. E, Smith was known to. everybody in the University as a man, if not the man, of promise, and the. subsequent career of the “ Galloper,” a soubriquet which stuck to him tenaciously, could have disappointed few of his admirers. Yet while he was climbing so hard, and by dint of. immense industry, in his profession of the law, he still found time to embark upon an equally noteworthy political career. His first speech as/ a ’ candidate for the Walton Division of Liverpool greatly impressed Joseph Chamberlain, and his maiden speech in the House of Commons was an essay in brilliant mockery which made his reputation overnight. Not only was he, as has been indicated, a tremendous worker at the Bar, but he lost no opportunity of serving his party to the utmost. His dual tasks would have overwhelmed most men, but P, E. Smith still found ample leisure to devote to lucrative journalism, his enterprise in this direction suffering only one serious rebuff, when Mr Baldwin was forced to place a curb upon the outpourings of this prominent member of his Cabinet. Naturally, the -redoubtable lawyer-journalist-politician did not escape criticism, and especially uprfn the score ,of his writings in the press. Almost his every book has been assailed, and probably not without cause, but, whatever his faults as historian may have been, and however much he may have borrowed the prophetic visions of others, as was alleged of his recently published “ The World in 2030,” Lord Birkenhead never failed to number his readers in their thousands, and this, perhaps, was his' principal aim. If his record in journalism, arising from his prominence in other spheres, was phenomenal, his record in political life kept pace with it. By 1911 he was a member of the Conservative “ shadow ” cabinet, and just prior to the Great War he was figuring as Sir Edward Carson’s principal lieutenant in the Irish controversy. With'the declaration of war he continued to shine, and in 1915 became Solicitor-General in, the first Coalition Cabinet. He succeeded Carson as Attorney-General in the same year. When Mr Lloyd George reconstructed his Ministry after the 1918 elections he became Lord Chancellor, and he was raised to the peerage during 1919. Mr Bonar Law was forced to overlook him when, on the fall of the Coalition in 1922, he opposed the desire of the Conservatives to regain their independence, but Mr Baldwin very wisely included him in the next administration, and he became Secretary for India in 1924. As the holder of the highest legal offices in. the realm, Lord Birkenhead justified all hopes. His legislative measures have been wholly approved and his judgments were sounq. One of. these was described by Lord Finlay as “a great and permanent contribution to the law on the subject . . . and to the science of jurisprudence.” It is not difficult to understand that Lord Birkenhead’s tastes were as elaborate as his activities, and he made no secret ox the fact that he found the emoluments of public office scarcely satisfying. As the Morning Post remarked when he-resigned from the Cabinet, he had an expansive , and generous nature which added to his other talents the talent of spending. The City proffered greater rewards, and Lord Birkenhead departed to the with expressions of regret on the part of the press and his ministerial colleagues. It was rumoured that directorships amounting to £20,000 a year were the, enticement. He parted with Mr Baldwin on the best of terms, after “four of the happiest and most interesting years of my life,” and his late leader replied by describing him as “ a generous colleague and a loyal friend.” In summing up the career of a notable and picturesque personality it is not uncharitable to state that Lord Birkenhead was more a politician than a statesman. His brilliance was amazuig, his versatility prodigious, his industry immense. Not only was he equipped by ‘ nature to succeed in almost any sphere which he chose, but he did actually win success m three, if not four, capacities. Lord Birkenhead’s career has been the most dazzling of any in our time,” commented a London newspaper two years ago. “His mind cuts like a diamond, and his tongue, on occasion, like a sword; consequently he has not always engaged public affection, but he has never tailed, even among his bitterest foes, to enjoy their admiration and a respect that in some of his adversaries must have been more akin to dread.” This seems to be a fair estimate of the spectacular qualities of the man, and it need only be added that as a lawyer he was responsible for some tme and constructive statesmanship, that his contributions to British legal and politica! history are by no means negligible.