IMPERIAL POLITICS

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14360, 4 February 1911, Page 5

IMPERIAL POLITICS

JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN AT 75. Press Association —Bv Tel. —Copyright. LONDON, Feb. 2. Mr Joseph Chamberlain took the oath in the House of Commons. His son, Mi- Austen Chamberlain, subscribed his name, his father touching the pen. Mr Hayes Fisher, at a meeting of the Conservative Commoners, said he had twenty .minutes' conversation with Mr Chamberlain after the latter took the oath. His mind was as alert as ever, and he seemed to take the same deep interest in all Imperial questions. Failure of physical strength alone prevented him giving full expression to" his views. LABOUR MEMBERS' PLEDGE. The Labour Congress at Leicester, by three to one, decided to abolish the pledge. Mr Keir Hardie supported the retention of a written pledge, which, he said, would make men disclose their dishonesty if it did not make them honest. Mr Ramsay Mac Donald has accepted the chairmanship of the Labourites in the House of Commons. THE DECLARATION OF LONDON*. The executive committee of the Australian Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution that from a national and imperial standpoint the Declaration of London ought not to be ratified in its present form. Received 8.45 p.m., Feb. 3rd. LONDON, Feb. 3. A meeting of the Baltic Exchange, tinder the auspices of the Imperial Maritime League, appealed to Parliament to reject the Naval Prize Bill, and demanded the complete repudiation of the Declaration of London. Mr Bowles, ex M.P., contended that Sir E. Grey had been misled, trusting mainly to undorlings, and consulting neither seamen nor lawyers familiar with international law.