LLOYD GEORGE PRIME MINISTER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1648, 9 December 1916, Page 3

LLOYD GEORGE PRIME MINISTER.

London, Dec. 7. Mi' Lloyd George has accepted the Premiership. The Centra! Nows Agency says Mr Lloyd George has offered Labour two seats in the Cabinet, one on t!io War Council and three UnderSeorotaryships.

GREAT WELSH STATESMAN

One of the lincsl personal!!ies in .Brimin, Mr David Lloyd George, owes his success, not to the advantages of wealth or hirlli, but solely (o his force of eliaracler. A typical Welshman —as Welsh as O'Donaell was Irish —Mr Lloyd George was, nevertheless, a native of Maladies,er, where, in 1863, the year of bis birlb, his father, William George, was schoolmaster. Two years later, having in liie meantime returned to Ids native county of IVmhroke, where lie bought a small farm, William George died, leaving bis widow and (wo little children (]itile unprovided for —the penniless (lock receiving an addition ig a posihunfous child, still living, Lloyd George's demoted brother. Tin l mother was one of those devoted women who live only in their children; she l sacrificed everything for t hem. I bit even with these saeviliecs if is hard to say what would have become of her family had it no! been for a brother of (lie widow, Richard Lloyd, who must be considered as the lincsl and most beautiful inlhienee in the life of the Iff! are Minister of the Grown. The uncle took as nearly as possible the place of a father, taking special interest ia David.

A LAPSE CMLEBRL. Diehard Lloyd iiiid early decided Iha I his favourite ne;>he'.v should, i f passible, become a professional mail, and if is probable (bat Iml for ihe stern doctrine oi‘ bis own iiivle communion, Lloyd George would have become a Mom-on I'ormisl minisier. Hut debarred from that walk, the youthful Welshman resolved to become a solicitor, lie settled down in Criccielh, a small town in Xortli Whiles, where he might have remained in ob.-curity for many years had there not arisen one of those cases which appealed to his fi'ylitin.” - instincts and to his tierce sense of injustice as a Nonconformist. A poor qnarryman, dying, expressed a wish (hat his body might lie. in the same grave as Unit of bis daughter in the Anglican graveyard. Mid the vicar objected and proposed (iml it lie in a certain portion of the churchyard—in what might be called (lie Potter’s Held — where (he unknown drowned, the scandalous livers, and the outcastfound (heir rest. The ease was brought to Lloyd George, who gave his advice with that audacity and promptitude, combined with a curious element of shrewdness which he has always shown in an emergency. Briefly, (he quarrymeu—a class that seldom dreads a light—were (o enforce their rights. The advice was taken. Then the dispute was transferred to the law courts. The hearing spread over months; all Wales looked on in delight, or in rage; and when (he months were over the \oiing Grieeieth lawyer had become a national celebrity, and to some extent a national hero.

When liliie more than a boy, Mr Lap,d George became an alderman of Ids comity council, and when a Parliamentary vacancy occurred in Hie Carnarvon Boroughs, in I Silt), be had so marked himself out (hat he bad m> great diifienily 111 securing a nomination as the Liberal candidate. It was a hard tight, and was won by a small majority. Midi) he became a national celebrity (lie light for ihe seal for (he Carnarvon Boroughs was .always a hard light. Ii was some jimo before Lloyd George became more limn a thorn in tile side of the elder siatesmen in ila 1 Hons;' of Commons. The outbreak of the Boer War found the Liberals splil. Mr Lloyd George look an active par! in the propaganda against the South. African war —even at Urn risk of ids life. It was known then that when the war Mas over and tin- Liberals returned to power ibat Lloyd George could, not be kept out id.' any Cabinei (he new Liberal Prime Minister might, form.

HCCCESSIVE OEPICES HEED. Accordingly, when Sir Henry ('amphell-Mannerman. in 1!)05, caun* to his own. Lloyd (Seorge was appointed (•’resident of the Hoard of Trade. Me soon elevated tin* modest Department into one of (he mo-d. popular and effective instruments of government. lie defended Dritish I rude against what he regarded as unfair monopoly, especially in flu; exereise of patent: rights; and, ahove all ,he saved England from the. disaster of a, great railway strike; On the death of Sir Henry Camp-bell-Bannerman, in 11)08, Air Asquith became Prime AS blister, and Mr Lloyd George succeeded the hitter its Chancellor of the Excehi(ucr. He continued in Unit office until 1915, when, having solved most of the great tinaneial problems raised by the war, he was appointed Minister for .Munitions, this step being taken in response to the popular demand for a strong man to undertake the organisation of the supply of war material. Then, on the deatii of Earl .Kitchener, he succeeded that illustrious soldier us Secretary of State for War, the appointment being officially announced on Julv (ith lust.