“Give Labour Its Chance"

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 708, 6 July 1929, Page 10

“Give Labour Its Chance "

Conservative Peer Talks About British Politics VISCOUNT MELVILLE ARRIVES “Give the Labour Government £ chance. It will not go to extremes/' Viscount Melville, a staunch Cots servative, has a perfectly open m:n<J about politics in England. He arrived by the lonic this morn, ing from England, accompanied By Viscountess Melville, on a holiday visit to New Zealand. “The advent of the Labour Govern, meat will do good in England” ijq said this morning when discussing thq political situation at home. “There are some very fine men in the party and one thing we must thank them for is that they have got rid o{ the Communists. “I think it is up to the Opposition to give the Labour men a chance to show what they can do. They will not go to extremes, as they are not strong enough. A Labour Government in 20 years’ time may go to ex. tremes but the extremes of that time will not be the extremes of today. “In my opinion Snowden is the best Chancellor of the Exchequer since Gladstone.” Viscount Melville said that England does not want to see the abolition of the House of Lords. There is evidence of that from all quarters, ha says. His own opinion is that the House of Lords should be a self-elective body—the numbers of peers to be elected In proportion to the House of Commons. Viscount Melville numbered the late Mr. Havelock Wilson, secretary ot the Seamen's Union, among his personal friends and considers that he was a really great man. He was utterly opposed to the last big Seamen's strike and often declared that the day of the strike was over. For many years Viscount Melville was in the Diplomatic Corps and has held consular posts in many parts of the world. In 1898 he was A.D C. to the mission of Sir Arthur Hardinge, who was sent to decorate the Sultan of Zanzibar. He has been His Majesty’s consul at Ajaccio and viceconsul at Zanzibar, Dar-es-Salaam, Algiers, Galatz, La Paz (Bolivia), Bahia and Tahiti, although he did not take over the last post as he was hurried to another important one. Viscount Melville’s home is Melville Castle, Lasswade, Midlothian.