BRITISH PREMIER'S HOME

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14613, 14 March 1921, Page 7

BRITISH PREMIER'S HOME

INTIMATE STORY OF CHEQUERS. WHAT THE GIFT REALLY MEANS. "Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham on Saturday received Mr and Mrs Lloyd George at, Chequers, the beautiful Buckinghamshire seat which they have, give) to England as 'a thanksgiving for*hev rli liverance in the Great War' and as 'a place or rest and recreation for her Prime Ministers for ever,' " writes Mr K. 'l'. Raymond in the Kvening Standard. "it, was an occasion of singular an i pathetic interest,. The Prime Minister arrived as a guest, and was treated as a guest until after dinner. Then the relations were reversed, and, ns master r,f Chequers for the rest, of his tenure of office, Mr Lloyd George bade farewell I i those who had been but a moment before his host and hostess. After an exchange of handgrips in the Stone Hall, with its 17th century grandees I oking gravely down from their canvases, Lord and Lady Lee entered their car, and were swallowed up by the dark CJJLIIt, An Act of Renunciation. "Mr Lloyd George returned with those who were now his guests—including Lord Heading, Sir Robert Home and Sir Hamar Greenwood —to what is now his own fireside in the great hall, where slaleliness and homely comfort are as perfectly wedded as in any hous-; in England. "Thus simply was consummated a very unusual act of renunciation. It :s do unusual that I, for one, can recall no parallel. Many people have given away houses they did not want. Some have given away many houses they did not want in order to get something els-i coveted still more. Still others, in the eld days of despotism, have turned out of their houses in order to save their heads. But I can recall no other instance of the voluntary sacrifice for ai ideal without ulterior aim or motive of any kind, of a house that is also a horn; and a home that has also been a passion. "The sacrilice implied in the gift of Chequers is really greater (for those vrho know the facts) than would have !cen the ease had the property reached Lord Lee by inheritance. For parental is generally stronger than filial affection, aid Chequers as it, now stands is very largely the child of Lord and Lady Lee. A Happy Search. "True, the mansion belongs to one of the most gracious periods of English domestic architecture, and is fraught with many inercsting historic associations. Most appropriately it had a very early association witli very early official life; the name (which, by the deed of gift, is to go with it for ever) derives from the fact that the site was once occupied by the hereditary officers of the King's Exchequer. "But Chequers owes the greater pa-*£ r: its present amenity to the taste and enthusiasm of its late owner. I believe i'. is a fact that Lord and Lady Lee were seeking a modest week-end cottage near London some 11 or 12 years ago. vhen their attention was drawn to the rather forlorn old house near the village ( f Kllesborough, a few miles from 'Vendover Station. They recognised its p< ssibilities, acquired the property, and hi ve since made the beauuiicution of it U eir great hobby. "I purposely refrain from talking at out money, though the house and its contents (to say nothing- of the very handsome endowment fund) represent a very large value. Any man or woman rich enough can give away mere money oi money's worth. The point of the Chequers gift, so far as this side of it i*. concerned, is that it is the gift of something on which an immensity of t 1 ought and affection has been expended. It is the' gift, in short, of something created, and not of something merely acquired. A Great Idea. "Broadly speaking, the idea behind tlie Chequers Trust is that it is enormously Important in these new democratic days that the virtual ruler of England should be ensured the means ot maintaining the dignity of his position without the sacrifice of his independence. "The position of Prime Minister, like so many English things, is the result of evolution. It was not recognised by the Constitution, and no direct provision was made for its emolument. It used to be occupied, almost as a matter of course, by men with ample means, and in exceptional cases to the contrary the want of means was made good in various ways. The elder Pitt received* l several large legacies. The younger Pitt was permitted the privilege of getting head over heels in debt, his obligations being finally discharged by Parliament. But, on the whole, it might i'e safely concluded that a Prime Minister would, with his official and private income, be able to meet comfortably the expenses incidental to his exalted position. Poor Premiers. "That assurance has finally departed. In future nothing is more probable than tJat the Prime .Minister may be wholly destitute of private means. But the official salary of the First Lord of tin Treasury, never adequate, is now rendered quite ludicrously insufficient by the fall in money and the rise in income tax. £SOOO a year, after the necessary deductions, would he a pittance, even if the Prime Minister of the future dwelt constantly at 10, Downing street, now more than ever an office and less than ever a home. "In practice, no man could remain .continually in London and sustain without breakdown the immense worries and responsibilities of office. On tho other hand, any Prime Minister is sure to receive any number of eager oflers of week-end and holiday cntertoinment from rich men. "A Place of Rest." "But at best the acceptance of such oilers involves a painful sense of obligation to which no official should be exposed, least of all the man entrusted Willi the vast burden of directing the affairs of the British Empire. "A sense of the necessity of supplying these deficiencies is, I believe, the r.uin consideration which has prompted Lord Lee to make Chequers a 'place of rest and recreation for Prime Ministers for ever.' His determination to carry out. the design in his own lifetime instead of (as at first contemplated) after his death and his wife's, is doubtless inspired by the conviction that a merdl desirability may, by any chance, become ;■ necessity. None can foresee the course of political events. "it is, for example, within the bounds of possibility that a manual worker may, in our lifetime, be called to the virtual rule of this country. What, better influence on such a man could lie imagined Mian Ihe antiquity and calm of a house which in its every detail proclaims the continuity of English history'.' "Such arguments would, of course, apply to any fine uldahoiiHe in Ihe unspoilt English countryside. Hut Lord Ice has further an almost superstitious faith in Ihe special virtues of Chequer*, Willi its pure air and hcerhen beauty, and its intimale associations with the great struggle for Parliamentary liber "The gill is made with vision, hut il is no) Ihe gif| of a visionary. The whole transaction springs from (he conviction of an eminently practical mind that 'I is a matter of immense importance thai tile Prime Minister of England, whatever his monetary statu*, shall be eu-

sured the means of spending his leisure in conditions befitting the dignity of his office. Downing Street in Bucks.' "Henceforward Chequers takers its place In history- Stately among tho pageant of. the Blender beeches which nre the glory of all that countryside, the great house will be in all lime to come tin' scene of endless informal, yet, vital, conferences, and will become as Ihtregil a part of tin; machinery of our governance as is 10, Downing Street itself," says the Sunday Times.