THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIV, Issue 17, 26 April 1906, Page 30

THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER

THE FAMILY HISTORY

The following particulars from a Home periodical regarding the Prime Minister will be of interest at the present time : Despite the fact that, by virtue ol one of the minor offices that usually go with the Premiership, the holder of tne latter is in receipt of a handsome otticial salary, it is generally understood that the man ] who leads the Government must necessarily be a rich man, in order that he may meet with comfort the great expenses of his position. The fact does not seem K» be appreciated that, Sir, Henry Campbell-Banner-man is really a very weahhy man. - His father was one of the original partners of the great warehousing firm of Messrs J. and W. Campbell, and Sir. Henry has drawn the bulk of his fortune ,from that firm, the story of the beginning and progress of -which is a \evy interesting one. James and William Campbell constituted the firm, ter, while William was his uncle. About the middle of last century, or a littie earlier, William was nothing more than a shopman in a draper's shop In Glasgow. It was a common thing in Glasgow at that time to have two prices for the goods that were sold in the shops ; that is to say, an article might be ticketed at 7s 6d, but a would-be purchaser might go into the shop and bargain for it until he got it for 6s. Dr. Chalmers th.n went to Glasgow, and delivered a sjries of lectures to business men there which he entitled ' Basmcs Morality,' and in the course of tnese lectures he strongly condemned this particular system, which, he said, sa\ored cry strongly of corruption. Wi.liam Campbell listened to these lectures, and he went back to his master s business very much impressed. The first thing he did was to urge his employer to put up a notice in his window announcing 'No second prices in thir establishment.' The master, however, ridiculed i>he idea, and sai<i that any business conduded on those lines would be a comparative failure. William Campbell, however, continued strongly to advocate the idea, until at last the employer said, ' I say fAially that I will not start such a business, but if you wish to do so I will lend you five hundred pounds with which to make the experiment.' The assistant accepted the offer, and he at once went to the suppheis in England, irom whom he got several hundreds of pounds' ciedit, and thereupon he opened his shop on the new principle, putting his brother James, tlu father of the Prime Minister, into it as his partner, The business was a success from the beginning, so much so, in fact, that when the disruption of the Chuich of Scotland was brought about, Dr. Chalmeis being at ths head of the movement, William Campbell assisted the Free Church people with a cheque for £lU,OUU. The business which had such a venturesome and curious beginning has now grown to an enormous size, with two large warehouses in Glasgow, a branch establishment in Leeds, and agents all o\cr the -world. In coune of time James Campbell became Lord Provost of the City of Glasgow, and subsequently Sir James Campbell. Cri eat honors were also ofiered to William, but be was a man of humble disposition. Curiously enough,, although they were both keen policians, they favored rival parties, and it is a coincidence that at the present time Sir. Henry has a brother— Dr. J. A. Campbell— who is opposed to him politically, Jand who sat on the Conservative side during tile whole of the last Parliament. Sir. Henry came by the supplementary surname of Bannerman .on account of a large bequest that he received from a relative, who made the ad di lion of name a condition of his acceptance of the fortune.