OBITUARY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 456, 15 March 1909, Page 5

OBITUARY.

' « / THE RIGHT HON. H. 0. ARNOLDFORSTER. In! T*t.itoit*rn—i'Hess AssocuTios-corißiunT.l (Rec. March 14, 4.30 p.m.) London, March 13. Obituary: Tho Right. Hon. H. 0. ArnoldForster, "Unionist M.P. for Croydon, and formerly Secretary for War; aetat 54. Tho Right Hon. H. 0. Arnold-Forster was evidently a busy man to tho last, for on March 5 tho London cablegrams reported his contribution to the Army Estimates debate, in the course of which he criticised the system of training for tho Special Reserve. The followin;* particulars of tho deceased's career are drawn from a "Pall Mall Gazette" appreciation:—"Tho second soil of the late Mr. \Y. 1). Arnold —brother of the Poet Matthew—he was educated at Itugby and University College, Oxford. Called to tho Bar, he drifted into politics and pamphleteering, and became a bright and shining light in that sky of omniscienco in which the typical journalist manifests his encyclopaedic acquaintance with tho onliro cosmic scheme. Ho had, however, a real gift for mastering subjects, and the good service ho had tendered both to the Army and to the Navy marked liini out as Mr. Brodrick's successor at the War Office. Before he attained tho dignity of Cabinet rank, his contributions to the 'Pall Mall Gazette' {not to mention "In o Conning Tower") kept his namo prominently before tho public. Even, indeed, tho man iii the street should remember Mr. Arnohl-Forslor when he sees tho Union Jack floating over the Victoria Tower at Westminster, the outcomo of his advocacy and of his offer lo provide tho necessary bunting at his own expense. When absent in South Africa, in 1900, on ii commission of inquiry into the suitability of tho subcontinent for military colonisation, he was appointed Secretary to the Admiralty, and was made Secretary for War in 1901. nc was born in 1855, was adopted by the lata William Edward Forster (hence his second name), and is married to a daughter of Professor Story-Mas-kelyne."