MR LLOYD GEORGE

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13638, 4 July 1908, Page 7

MR LLOYD GEORGE

BUSINESS MAN OF I'IIE

CABINET

("Daily Mail.")

Mr Lloyd-George is noiv the second mar. in the Liberal Tarty, and therefore, for the time being, in tlie country. He was, of course, predestined for promotion. Among many successful Ministers lie • has been the .most ,succetiiful. In the lrfst two years he has raised a comparatively minor office to the highest level of prominence and utility. tie lias averted great industrial conflicts; he has passed some bold and beneficent measures; he has tackled and solved problems, such, for exampie, as the Port of London problem, that his predecessors found insoluble; he has,shown himself to ba beyond comparison the business man of the Cabinet.

Tlw nation that only a few years ago was ready to etone iiim now realises that it liaa possessed in the president of the Board of Trade an asset of the first value. Everyone likes him ; everyone trusts. „>un. His union r of' a warm nature with a hard head has brought lum the affectionate confidence of the country. - He is the-'Min-isterial handy-man. When it is kuowu Mr Lloyd-George has taken up .a question people cease 'o worry about it. It has come to be almost an article of faith with the masstts, and in the world of business tiha-< he cannot'fail.

liven, however, about- Mr Lloyd-George op'nion is, not quite unanimous. ano

" Spectator's" measured voice has broken the chorus of approval. That admirable organ is it little-nervous about Mr LwydGeorge. It finds him restless, unstable, too much of a politician,;.ico. litde of a statesman, secretive, with- rio "judicial aloofness," fligh.y a nd irraipbriuibje in. .the charming • Celtic ivay, ''liable -'ait any'mo ment to kick over the traces, and not orthodox "■ on Uie question of . Tree -Trade.

And in part tlx-e "Spectator" is right. I . agree ' with, ii that. Mr' • Lloyd-George does not in the least subscribe to ths; do-nbtliing' side of the Eree Irade doctrine, that..': it will never satisfy him, and that his passion for accomplishing results, •the' constructive and practical bias of -his leuipeiaineiit and abilities, his openmiritiedness and freedom from, formulae, and the capatilv for grow th which is perhaps the dominant. " note " of. his th'aracv»jr, will ultimately tead him, just as familiar qualities led . Mr Chamberlain, from L:ttk-Englandisini and • F.rea Trade lo Imperialism and; Xarili . Rsfonh.

Air Lloyd-George, is-..a Welshman. He is as Welsh as O Connor was Irisli. One would have to go back to the daya oi Owen Giendower to discover a leader wlic. has won lo an equal degree the enthusiasm th-at Mr-Lloyd-George commands among liis warm-hear.ed and" impressionable countrymen. , On all questions of domestic politics his voice is the vpice of the Principally. Gallant little Wales hits in him a. champion—but a champion wlio does not hesitate to go against, the convictions of his followers whelt lie thinks it right. • " Ho did . so, as we all reu.ember. during the Boer. .war. He. madp , hiniself the most intensely Tiated of all, pro-Boers. Bui we are not- a resentful people, and ire auiniie courage. Vilieii men think ' to-day of the war and of Mr : LloydGeoige's connection with it,- they think of a .man who may have been misguided, n'long-lieaded, iniouliievous even, but wlio iiud, at any ''rate, Uie supreme political courage to stake his 'career on his -coiiscieucv. The ordeal of those exciting years did much to nniture • -hj»- powers, tie developed into a brilliant Parlianientarian. - ilmnour, passion; sincerity, the quick-moving mind of i.he Uelt, and a genuine gui. for el&ir, iresii exposition uia.de hini at times .mora than a ii'iatch for Mr Chamberlain, liimself.

The Education lini of 1902 gave liirn yet ampier scope lor pung-tiit attack. As a Vvelshman and a i\ oucunforrinxt it bitterly oifencted him, and lie tln»'w himself upon iti with a, dash and vehemence itiat uinlled his countrymen with 'something of the fervour of. a religious revival. When the ".Tariff. Reform'-move-ment was launched, Mr ... Lloyd-George louud {mother opportunity to hand. .: He shared w-ith Mr Asquitli and Mr Winston Churchill the distinction of being the most effective and sparkling .ox.ail ime upholders of Free Trade, v With- tlie legal ; eye ■ for a weak argument and the tegal gift for luminous^.and precise- speaking, he- lias, a Celtic , : touch of idealism, 'zealotry, and imagination"that. -makes, lnm; on a public platiorm one. of the most refreshing d speakers. , .there is a tremendous-air of lifet about him. He has .something of Mr Boosevelt a tingling alertness', .and more ■ the ■ President's stock of geniality. .He is a mail \yho," though he hits'' with all his might, .is utterly uesuuuie of .miihce or pettiness.... .10 see lus frank and engaging snu»;. is to know,. the generousnature lie is. ■ His success in liiuj.aging men,, in piloting Bills tnrough: .Parliament, m composing disputes, springs partly irom the possession of great.- tact. and experience, and partly fii>m an almcst instantaneous perception, of what is essential a» well .as of wliat is possible, bur.. chiefly from the reflex aciion 'of 'liis*: open au'a winning personality upon those with whom he is dealing. :Mr Lloyd-George ii --still a young man, notyet forty-live. When lie entered Parliament eigbteem years ;ago,; haruiv a soul outside iiisc .own townspeople had ever heard-of. him. He has risen on Ins own merits, without " pull ■" of any sort. Jn his way he is a» typical -as • Mr • John Burns of the, revolution that is coming o„ver Jinglish. Jite and politics; the revolution that is -gradually throwing open the career ■to talent, and causing men to be judged by what they are ana do, aud not by the non-essentials of birth or position or wealth.