MEN OF THE HOUR

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17109, 2 April 1921, Page 13

MEN OF THE HOUR

lIqRD MILNER'3 PART *N FRANCE. Is

I ana own cojhusssokwsns.) February 10. d of duty m {Secretary -of ;tbe Cajoflies, Milner lies ft -long rest. Ehe urst Jhifl will d© spent at Stuny, in Kant, and thon he thinks abroad for a time. At a tuned at Buehmghnm Palace : he returned to the King the office. Referring to tho last of Lord 'Milner's work* Su jw mentions that, for the fiist months of the war, lie'disi number of oxtremely useful, and entiiejy unobtrusive nf wrick, as a rule, the very <m little or nothing. Mr Aslabyiet glad to aiad it-' 3 financial and administi ative h and JW* .capacity for master-* ly.-and. accurately tho details mrpllcated He was >with one important .enquiry, t task of organisation and reon, ajfter lanothej-, and tha ©missions and departmental >s over which he presided ,a -Jong oafl." Labour, «oon<>jraational trade, the provissb« country, were -among tbo to. dealt witn m one phase or M> only*]ust escaped ieing ap- } the thankless offioe of Food atest -of ai\ *b» services Lord jdercd tp fcis countiy and the (se Waß'hi3 action in March, >w days after the opening or Xfeittaan afctaok, and the de-Bntishr-Fjtfth. Aiwy. In actiona which followed, and sfcitotion yof ish* Allied High , under G«neral J*och, tho jd by Lnm Mdaep vta of tho nnortanoe. At one of tho went! bf hnwam historyjLord luring •« few crowded houw, the" s.oeiK'-.o of events, ana it to B sound «ad tnostfi>eneclusion. What hj« bad acI'jras, wn> nt the is even now not generally *sit tcue «?ißdju«. H» went at the request of Colonel ho.waa eoting w Liaison 0»«n tM/BritnA Cabinet and IHes Council, and the outcome jL'afcter njanj seiipua conieri the appointment of Marshal commander of the Allied Wje «kiA bad ori&natcd'with fllson, who proposed to Lord fhai seemed then a fantastic . jttonjaewr Cleoiencpan bhoiild lb. supremo command ot tno he Bntisn (and if 'possible the armies, with Foeh a& nis l^fid^iser. 5 ' Even at the fiom, as Sir, Henry writes, all I almost oertainly would, ha\e railing without Lard Jlilnor s eption ofs the Atnation lirhen clear to him, and his [ resolute *cticm *t the Heneat. o» it- was who uttered na word," and unravelled the n Tshidn" t»a Allied mriiKty bad pot itself ennot .only accepting Foeh dinator troni the French, imposing Foeh upon tho ligh Command and Clenienmd th» he did entirely "off iat»» pkwjging tho Byjtish Goto concur m the arrangomenti avwig tho opportunity of conV coHeagoea; though he was, , iortifled by tno knowledge LOoyd Geojrg&hwi always been > of a. gennina unity y among the Alliep. Atrer inc achievement it wns mevit Lord Milner should succeed by as Secretary of fotate for Colonial Office from January, \w done soiaeihingrto amelwralways delicate relations bev Colonial Offiee andHtha ™™*' union Governments; and s« ed close attention to the tropidoncies and Crown .Colonies ly, in the future, come to do »1, perhaps tlie exclusne, in- I the office he has vacated. | 'lam of Ms CtarcniU. pubheation, "Canada,'' there a» from a- correspoanent« a Iticfeumm Lopd •M«B« r > | the Colonial 0«fe». It w the tljo yrnter that Mr Wwaston h s record "Us eakul»te<ito «* union statesmen who come to ir the Conference this year to fightmg attitude before the i actually been thrown down, motion of tho Colonial porcquicken tie desire of tlie vo- •£ hate tfeenr' affairs .removed purview of the Colonial Oftce, without significance tho saginles from more than one nuar-

ter that a now Dominion .(Department ehoujil be cncatod under Lord Milner. Mr Winston Churchill will be much mors* in his clement in dealing .with the Crpwn Colonies and "the raaxiaaiecl that is, wJbich have hpen gnlrustod to Great) Britain; •not those v, hicb. have b"en handed over to Australia, ftew Zealand,: and South Africa. As an autocrat,^he may shine in controlling the uiffairs of /the de--1 pendent Empiro', Tiw predilections will need tp be sharply curb--led if his sway extends to those parts of ' tju> Empire whoso nationhood has been consecrated by tho events of the last nvo 01 six yoars." It w further remailied that-he knows (< he has never been persona grata, to the Dominions He does not forget, though, ho may find it convenient to ignore certain meetings with Dominion statesmen during provious Imperial Conferences Neither do they forget, though, they may be disposed to forgive, if ne Si prepared to show that in bearing and policy no ja as icady a convert as_ in part-C It wop Joseph ■Chamberlain's pioud boast, when he had discovered the British Empue and forniwlated a. policy based on tho economic needs and opportunities of its several parts that Viat i* Jhad, said EcAad Baid.' If Mx Waiston -Churchill is to leave a favour-, able record behind iiira at the Colonial Oftlce, comparable with, that of either' Mr Chamber-lain or Lord Milner, he wiH have to admit that 'what he iad said he was prepared to unsay.' He has taken -uplus new role, apparently, in tho Milner spirit of I>ani the conse•Quencesl' It is bevond question unioitunate that <£he Minister who, when: the Dominions 'suggested that preference might be made reciprocal, pybhely announced that his .Government had; liaingwl. bolted, and barred the door, •BttonYd be chosen m this year of years to become Secretary of State for the Colonies. The only extenuating circunitance* is that, member of

/ Some.Hoobies. ■.,' - ■■ jlr Winston Churchill is a good friend to tlie booksellers. Whenever; he has from one Ministry to another, viiotlier it has been the Board of 'lrnde, the Horn* Offiee, »lie Admiralty; or he Jobs alwaya set to -a oris to collect a. 10»rary ot-worKs i specially relatmg to that particular Deiwtmcwt. Now that lie is to be reiroonsible for tho Colonies, I hear he has been h«sy accumoiating.; books atmub tpo Donuaiona. Hu not only, collects them, but lie xeads them.. WcnurehiU includes painting among his accomplishments, and he is one , ot lha jllubtratorb of a new ffistoiy of the Ninth "(ScottiA) %3r *ion/ whicli Mr Murray as ■rence Farm, not far from the famous "Plus street," whero for several months ho qu«rt«ed as officer of a battonon of ihe Boyal Scote Eusihers. Lawmice Farm was quito near iffirmi line, and Mr OMirduß has jufcrodnea a few picturesque touches cofeur d»teh,.» rtt. way of ■bUxstuig shells and shelHioios. , Jt is, recorded that Jfc Churchill s arctic cairn is beKevcd .to.havej ewnmencod shortly aftei was transrerred IrWtho office of First Lord of the AdmSty to that of ClianceHor of the &SS of Lancaster. 1* a said that SSnftmg «k»ig the street one eyenP !t occiim-d to hiui to entar a colour &MK and that »hon he came ont ]» wafeuuipped with all tlie materials for lr TaSstTstudio. He at once applied bhnsSf to the. study, and » believed to ' haw painted a quite passable pictureiab ,W first attempt- in one day- About V yev ago A pVrtrari by Mr Churclull (of y tSe well-known artist 'Sir. John JLVerv wife one the Mterestm* exSSff.b th. GraftonTGalleries "When Mr Churchill leaves tho Office for the Colonial Office," says thd JSrenins Standard," ho wdl be able fflook back upon remarkable changes l dnnn«- lu* too years' serncs as War F»e millions of men have I hec den ' Kd i the pay of officers and men of an mlita 6«» wmensely improytd and a meat system of education in Ao ifmy »«■ ostaWklKd. .lie. ArniyiTio longer » Wind aßey ocenpaSon 7 Every soldi* wlm b**."**! htoeU of {he opportunities |W.Tidrf fotj «hic»tion anci pay may come oa» ' SIS2S at the enTof five cr seven f JJawthe filter for civUian. life and eitiQf the newly-appointed SecState for the Colonies, Sir itS AUen expressed the jlTSuKhul vould not Mw. accepted was glad. tiiarColowl Amery was J£ StaLd as Of V,seo*nt M.teer's Wb» -the.Hg», Commtssoner remaiked: rerrloVry to'lose him, and we can only hope he «.11 not bo permanently lost to thrDominions. H as tho result of!

the Imperial Conference, somo alteration is made regarding tho administration of the Dominions, the appointment of Lord Milner as our_ representative in Great Britera will giv« the ■ greatest satisfaction."