MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 64, 25 March 1902, Page 4

MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

When Mr Chamberlain appears on the platform or rises in his place m the House of Commons to make an import- ’ apt speech, he is a monument of selfpossession. His pallid, smooth shaven' face >betrays r none of the emotions attributed* to’ him by the caricaturists. f It would be as expressionless as a mask but for his keen, steady . eyes. There is no sign of the internal volcano * that we know exists. The cold, clear cut sentences fall from his lips with apparent spontaneity. Visible -effort of - memory there is none, nor literary hesitancy. Every word tells. It is like the piling of bricks; If the occasion is ,a public meeting, and an ‘ interruptson accurs, the speaker waits impassively, until it subsides, and then goes on as before. It is ten to one that this selfcontrol of his will presently • < fascinate the hostile element into silence, if not into respect or conviction. There are times* of, course, yhen he_ is stirred and raps.out bitter phrases that rankle, and do not quite belong to the’ “ rapier play.” :

Mr Chamberlain knows the disadvantages of getting excited iu controversy, and so generally keeps a tight rein on - himself. He is Said to have a biting collection of epithets in stock for emersfibh hot shot as “Viper !’* and “Cad”,(both fired by him on memorable ’ WreV' likely to have .been premeditated. -It is interesting to hear, however, that the speeches.which so often seem masterful impromptus are really, as a rule, the finished,product, of careful rehearsal. Apropos of this, an amusing story is told. In his orchid house one day Mr .Chamberlain - found a very valuable plant broken. He got angry, blamed some sightseers who had been there, and turned to his gardener for confirmation. t The gardener hesitated, exhibited, some confusion and then said it was Mr Chamberlain himself who'had dqne the' "damage. “You .were walking lipund down,” said the man; “and rehearsing sornething. I heard’Lord" Salisbury’s name, sir, an’ Mr Gladstone’s, an’then you struck out with your right arm, sudden like, and down, went the orchid.”