DAVID LLOYD GEORGE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11926, 8 February 1917, Page 4

DAVID LLOYD GEORGE.

LONDON. December 10. , I do not know Mr Lloyd George in | private life. lam not in agreement j with him in many political affairs. Wo j have been publicly antagonistic in many mailers for twenty years. He adopted a line in the Boor War which was not my line, and which incurred the. hatred and even the cont'unpt. of millions of his fellow subject 1 -. It was a brave line. for it demanded much more courage to bo m the r-ido of th" minority who opposed the war man to shonf with the, majority who supported it. Since, then Mr Lloyd George has led all so:-r.s of movements at variance with the tenets of the, political party io which I. belong. Sometimes ho lias been right, and proved right-. Sometimes ],e has been wrong, and proved wrong: but in ail that he has undertaken" he has evinced the same courage that he has shown throughout this, ouo of the most momentous weeks in the historv of the British peoples. In August. 1914, .Mr Lloyd George was a member of our Government which, after some days of haggling, tvidis.V: that ji we woiv to remain a nation in :dl we must attempt- to save the life, of tlvi, little nation of Belgium, which we were under contract to protect. HIDF THE TTUT.H TACTICS. _ Since tita;, time, with the exception of Sir Edward (.•arson, who Jeft the Government, b'-eause of its shuffling and indecision, l.loyd George was the only member who had the eourago to exhibit, discontent with our feeble ami vacillating conduct, of the, war. Now and then, in Parliament and on. the public platform, be attempted to fell the people a. little of the truth Lut on these occasions he was always howled down by the members of his party ami iheir newt-papers as being unpatriotic: as giving comfort to the enemy mid the rest of the hide-tho-truf.h tactics common to the smaller politicians in war iimc when endeavouring to cover up their blunder. Sir Edward '('arson left the Government last year, and if .Mr Lloyd George had gone with him then tho war would have been greatly advanced. He. was prevailed upon to remain, hut eventually at tho owl of last week he found the state of torpidity and seh-satisfac-tion of his colleagues in tho face of repeated < ; et-backs impossible to a man of his vision and patriotism. Of those colleagues I prefer only to say that they were men who would not, believe that, the war was coining, and when it did come, had no idea of its tremendous portont for our race. In my own newspapers at homo I have spoken much more plainly—so plainly, indeed, a,s to find myself from time to time tho bostabilled man in the country. When last- week Mr Lloyd George decided to smash tho party machine in which, ho was entangled he took his courage in both hands. T do not believ.o that- ho had any personal ambition in the matter -at all. Events have made him Prime Minister. IN THE WILDERNESS.

Mr Lloyd George went out into the ■wilderness alone, so far us his own party was concerned. lie had with him'a supporter (.Bona?- Law I previously opposed to him in practically every phase of politics, and an outside helper in Sir .Edward Carson, whose Irish policy is diametrically opposite to that of Lloyd Oeolgo. Those three men, with Lord I>Rrby. have produced n. miracle, of which all the world, is talking. They have in a few days, formed a "Government, marred, it is true, by the inclusion of some notable former failures, but enriched by the brains of business men, Labour mon, and new

FASHIONER OF HEW EfflßE,

(By LORD NOHTHCMFFE.)

politicians The greater part, of the work lias boon done by Mr Lloyd George himseit. ii>- h- constantly referred to \wro, a .s " the Jit Ms, Vvelshman," Inn. ho is not. at all lirUo. You probably ha ye his portrait- before, yon as you road ilm.-e, lines. Too head is not- Mini of a lirUo man. mentally or physically It is the head of a. man* with a sparkle of genius. (ombined with t'ol IK.' energy and iUietlPc industry. For the greater part of this woelv he luc been a;, rim War Office, ot v. nidi ho was the head, til! three in the morning, returning to his oifl'mulr, task of making a. composite national Government, sin hoMrs later. I do no;- often see bint. I do not suppose that I have soon him a do/.rn times ali-ogether during oo,r aeowaintnwe. but, I. saw 1 hi in jusr before hi. made hi. derision, and lie appeared a tired man. looking much older than Ids iifty-ibree years. Within o fow hours of Ids telling Mr Asquith that ho could ho no longer of his company M: Lloyd George looked ten years voiir.gvr.

] have seen him ai. throe other cribes of the war. The iirst when he got the fdieiis that the Government and the Army bad forgotten to provide; the second when he nearly, oh. so nearly, accomplished the unification of Ireland. On each of these oceiL-on.-, as. during this week, iho man revealed himself a hMinan dynamo. iwery erg of energy is foeu-.-.< d on tim immediate task in baud. He combines itm persuasiveness <;f the Irishman wiih the eoncontrr, lion or the American and the thoroughness, of the Englishman. .Ids critics sav that ho ttre.s too quickly of hi?, task.' That Ido not bylicve. He gives every ounce of attention to the achievement of the particular object in band, and then pa.-f-e< en tho next .important effort. A WAR GOVF-LNMKNT. Milking a Go re-rumen t is. I. -suppo.-c, tho same afi fie- wond over. Making a- real War Government such as we are making i- not quae as easy a 'task as banding out pieces to tnuigrv politicians in peace i-'tno. Mr l.loyd G cor go has tried to the best of hi,, ability to gather around him represent a lives of all that is best, in British life. Distance ami < in .niisianoe alone have urevenled the inclusion of men like Lord Shaughne.-ey, ot Montreal, and Mr Hughes, the Prime Minister of Australia. Ho lias had to do bit, picking and choosing with lightning rapidity, because in war time tho value of time is kuintupled. The Government he has got together will lasi , but- it needs pruning. it contains too many of what, are known in the United States as "has-beens.'' a*d is cumber,.d by too many fossils reprcsonLitivo of a past, age. No one knows exactly how they got there, but T think ! know the reason. This quick, determined, energetic Welshman is jusf a little too kind-hearted. Nevertheless, he has formed a Government which is the cause of rejoicing throughout: Iho Empire, and especially to our soldiers facing their third -winter in the trenches. His political who, at the beginning of Urn «-ei not seem able to make a Government, now think that his Government will not last. I boh; different, opinions. ! believe that he will be at. the head of the Government that tie- war: that brings about a settlement ->f the Irish question and nmint-'ins thai, essential' factor-- goodwill between the people of the Eogii-E nations of the British Empire and t lie people of the United Stales.