POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 43, 25 October 1900, Page 3

POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Mr. Thomas Cukkan, late member for Sligo in the Imperial Parliament, was recently in Adelaide on his return to Sydney. Whilst in the South Australian capital Mr. Curran was interviewed by the rpprpspnt-ft+ivp of 9 local paper. In the course of the interview he said :—: — _ There i> no doubt the Salisbury Government will pot a big majority, but they cannot go back to Parliament a« the same Ministry, however. There will have to be an extensive and important reconstruction. Intellectually, the present Government iB the weakest that has been in power for very many years. Salisbury, HicksBeach, Balfour, and Chamberlain are the only really strong men in it, and the three first-named formed a trio which had prevented Chamberlain from plunging the country into most terrible trouble. But for Lord Salisbury's strong hand Chamberlain would have had us at war with Germany and France, and he is generally distrusted, not merely by the Irish and Liberal parties, but by his own oolleagues as well. He is not a political force to be reckoned with in any election outside Birmingham, and he is never asked by his party to support a candidate, as Balfour so frequently iB. You see that Mr. Goschen is to retire 1 4 Oh, yes, we all knew that in the lobby 12 months ago. The fact is that he has not been well for a long time, and the work of his department has been too much for him. Sir Michael HicksBeach will probably go to the Lords also, though possibly not till after the meeting of Parliament. After Mr, Balfour he is the most influential member of his party in the Commons, but he is not physically strong, and so he will take a rest from active political life. It iB not yet known who will succeed him as Chancellor of the Exchequer ; it is hardly likely to be one of the present members of the Government, as there does not seem to be any one of them with sufficient financial ability. Probably some outsider will com* in. There will no doubt be other changes, too, and whatever they are they can hardly weaken the Government — it is full of mediocre or worse than mediocre politicians. For instance, Mr. Chamberlain's friends had to be provided for, and a poor lot they are. There is Jesse Collings, the man who made famous the phrase " three acres and a cow " ; Powell Williams, who is a nonentity ; and young Austin Chamberlain, who is personally much liked, but who has no politio&l brains. Then in the Cabinet are half a dozen men who hare no claim to Cabinet rank on the score of ability. Amongst them are the Seoretary of State for India. Lord George Hamilton, who only obtained and retains his position by family influence : the president of the Local Government Board, Mr. Chaplin ; the president of the Board of Trade, Mr. Ritchie ; the First Commissioner of Works, Mr. Akers-Douglas ; and president of the Board of Agriculture, Mr. Long. None of these ought to be in the Cabinet, and probably some will have to go.' As to the war, there is an agitation against the War Office and its methods, is there not I ' Oh, yes ; and it is a very influential one. There is going to be big trouble there presently. A Commission is certain to be appointed, and the general opinion is that Lord Landedowne will come out of it very badly. It is an open secret that if Lord Wolseley's recommendations had been adopted instead of being contemptuously thrust aside by the War Minister, as they were, our reverses in the early part of the Boer War would probably never have occurred, and the people feel very sore about it. It is looked upon as almost certain that Lord Lansdowne will have to retire from the War Office, especially as Lord Roberts is to be appointed Commander-in-Chief. Had he been in Wolseley's place he would almost certainly have resigned if his counsels had been rejected, and the people would have insisted on hiß being listened to. Now, as to Home Rule, Mr. Curran ; that is the one great thing the Irish members are hoping for. Do they think they will get it ? 'Not yet, but it will come. No great and just cause like that was ever lost if properly fought for. I was sorry to Bee by the cables that Mr. Herbert Gladstone has been saying the cause must sleep for a while. His father would never have admitted that while he remained in active politics. He could not have lived in public life, and not continued to advocate the cause of justice to Ireland. He knows too well that the reform that was worth having was worth fighting for, and must come at last, in ap'.te of all checks and discouragements, it will, however, require another Parnell to gain it. As to the war and the coming settlement ? ' There is only one possible settlement, That is for the South African States to be formed into a Federation similar to that of Australia, with a Governor-General at Capetown and LieutenantGovernors for Natal, the Transvaal Colony, and the Orange River Colony.' With self-government and the full franchise, do you mean ? ' Certainly ; I do not think anyone would dream of refusing the franchise. It is the only possible way of settling a grave difficulty.' Mr. Curran went on to talk of a work which he apparently has very much at heart — international arbitration. He belongs to a body called the • Union Inter Parliamentaire,' which is a gathering of members of nearly every Parliament in the world, formed for the purpose of promoting peace and international arbitration. He has just been attending a gathering of this body at Paris. It consists of about 700 members of different Parliaments, and meets at the various capitals of Europe. He states that it is doing splendid work and it was partly owing to the influence of the organisation that the Czar of Russia promoted the famous Peace Conference at The Hague. Mr. Curran intends to stay in Australia for about two rB j v is here on P ure *y private business, and when it is completed he hopes to go back to England and to re-enter Parliament.