THE REAL LLOYD GEORGE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 26, 25 October 1918, Page 6

THE REAL LLOYD GEORGE

THE EVOLUTION, OP A STATESMAN,

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER FAVOUKS STATE OWNERSHIP. ———. j

Before the war Mr. Lloyd George was described as a rabid Prohibitionist. When the war was two months going he said, "Drink was a greater onemy than Germany." That was in 1914. But Mr. Lloyd George changed his views.

•The. U.K. Alliance (which is the parent of the N.Z. Alliance) niade charges ngiiinst tile men working in shipyards, and the General Workers' Union deembed the Alliance's charges as a "campaign of lies and insults levelled at the working clnsses of Great Britain." Mr. Lloyd George realised the tnith of the workers' compliant, and his sympathies turned to the workers. His next step was tnlcen on April 30, 1915, when he 6aid in his first Budget speech:— Every man who drinks , a glass of beer is now contributing ono halfpenny ia the War 'Fund, and providing silver bullets to destroy the Germans. Prohibitionists contribute nothing in this way to win the war, and by taking away the working man's beverage they were endeavouring to cause a revolution in England as in Russia, and so, in effect, throwing the British Empire at the feet of Germany. Mr.. Lloyd George extolled the workers. He denounced the Prohibitionist as "the elusive teetotaller" in his second Budget speech, arid imposed taxation that Prohibitionists could not escape, saying— "I think I have, caught the elusive teetotaller this time." Air. Lloyd George nnade inquiries into the allegations of the Prohibitionists against the worker, and in a letter to tho "Daily News" (London) he said: "Only a few jvorkors have been drinking." I'rom that time the U.K. Alliance and its minions have not been fair to Britnin's Premier; and although the N.Z. Alliance has used his first statement to advance their cause, they have never hinted that Mr. Lloyd George has changed his views. What sealed Mr. Lloyd George's fate as far as tho Prohibitionists were concerned was his advocacy of State purchase and control. They tried their utmost to embarrass the Prime Minister and to shake the ,Coalition Government. The Prohibitionists opposed the institution of the Central Board of Control, but Mr. Lloyd George created it. This board was empowered by the Act of its appointment to pay "fair and adequate compensation for all existing interests that are damaged or taken over." This board took over and purchased four breweries and 104 hotels in Carlisle alone, and the chairman of the board in ii recent statement showed that this venture, nfter paying all legitimate charges, showed a profit of IS per cent. Mr. Lloyd George has since (as reported by cablegram in all New Zealand papers) made this statement:— "Personally, I am of opinion that State purchase is the best way to progress and Teuineranco." Tn his article, "The IJoal Lloyd George," in the "Strand" for March, 1917, Mr. T. I'. O'Connor tells how Mr. Lloyd George is not ii teetotaller, and that "his one self-indulgence is a cigar." If the ejectors of New Zealand desire to follow In the footsteps at "The Man Who Has Saved the Empire" they will support "State Purchase' and Control," for Patriotism, Freedom, and Democracy. —(By arrangement.)