FROM THE POLITICAL ARENA.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1953, 9 January 1914, Page 5

FROM THE POLITICAL ARENA.

| By-Telecraph^PrcsE'-As^^^ yifi ■,:.. ■, \ London,- January.:?.'® ■ '-. The Right, ■ Hoii. ;,Tosoph'.Chamberiain, announces that b'c>.wi!l!not,stand at; the next election. .%■:'■ In ii,'letter':to'shis con-' etituents, he-says;-^j7:;r :s 'X* f ;S^'.i''' : V i ,: -'."I cannot lwpo':aga'ih';:'tb:;dq;.,Parlia.meutary work,■'.-■■ Thc.co.nstitueney, needs 'a'youngor ■ Mr.. Charabei'lain's- : worse, though :.lie* f sbortly ; - departs, for tho Riviera. -:; ; -, r:%:. :f i\'Mf--'~ ! -. ."■/"■/;■■'*■ . Tho announcement has .boon received with the greatest'possible'regret in all circles, irrespective of party. ■ . ? ' His son Ncvillo is likoly to Iw his successor, but Mr. : Austen Chamberlain is. also suggested.;! ..<•"--.-. ?; ":■■/ ■;■■ ■;.' ■".: Tho Unionist newspapers pay a tribute to Mr, Chamberlain's wide Imperial outlook and unflinching courage.. - The Liberal organs ungrudgingly tes* tify to the- country's 'J loss of a great political figuro. : /r;r^M'Mii'-''\'-M'-i'-:■■. ' The Right Hon. Mr.' Joseph ''-'Chamber--lain was born in Cambenvcll in 183 S. Ho was educated at a private school in Birmingham, and afterwards!.-at. University College School .London;.;/then;'entered N'ettlefolds and became ;.iiltimntcly .-' tlie controller, of. that groat" ironware business, from-,which he was able"to retire before he was forty.'' At forty iio entered Parliament for -Birmingham with a ijrcai municipal and Radical reputation behind him, which he improved upon by becoming President of tho Board of Trade, in Mr. Gladstone's second■ Administration (1-SSO), and afterwards President of the Ijoeal Government Board. His renunciation of Gladstonianism in 1880, his selfeffacement in the cause of tho Union, and In's later and brilliant services to the Umpire as Colonial Secretary in a Unionist Administration are the landmarks of the political history of Uie past century. So far, every period of his life has been more active "than its predecessor. His repudiation of free .imports has confirmed his opponents in the diabolic theory of his genesis, career, and mission. Only the Pro-Boors painted bins e.o black that the Cobdenites have merely had to copy tho picture. He gavo-a loyal support to Mr. Balfour as Jon-? as the Unionists wore In office, and lie held tho pass in the Houso , earlv in .190(5 until Mr. Balfour found a I re-ciitrv into it through the City or j London. Illness, unfortunately, kept Mr. • Chamberlain out of the House, most of: the session of 196G,-and all of- those- since; but he wkiV? manv encouraging letters from his- Highbury retirement, and these helped immensely iii the task of; converting England to his fiscal policy in Hie election of.Tanuarv, 1910, and M holding that maioritv in the -following; .Dccenrtre?,