The Daily News. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1911. MR. BALFOUR'S RESIGNATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 121, 13 November 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1911. MR. BALFOUR'S RESIGNATION.

To read the expressions of opinion from the Old Country, regarding the resignation of Mr. A. J. Balfour, Leader of the Unionist Parliament in the House of Commons,' Ls much like reading a postfuneral eulogy of a national hero, for although this remarkable man and his brilliant gifts are not last to the party, the influence he wielded as leader of a great party, and, indeed, in international politics, leaves his side weaker. The outstanding characteristic of Mr. Balfour is his great intellectuality and its peculiarly quality of minute analysis. He is incomparably the ablest political dissector in the House of Commons, disdaining to employ any of the artificial aids to political victory. He in his own person and methods typifies the tra-

ditions of the British Parliament, and has, for good or ill. set his great intellect to fight tlir revolutionary tendency that is fa-,t making the British Parliament unrecognisable as the greatest, most dignified and conventional organisation in the world. He typifies the conservatism that hates gaud and which is conservative because it will not bow down and worship new gods, lie is the man whose invective is poisonous only where there is an enemy to be slain and not because there is acclamation to be won. fie represents the old order, for it would seem impos-

sible that a man who has the blood of the Cecils in his veins, and whose ancestors for centuries have been disciplined in statesmanship and statecraft, could see anything but pinchbeck in the modern system of Coyernme.il. And J so this man of frail body but towering intellect has set himself the task of stemming the political tide which despite him and his party is sweeping out the old order. Tie occupies the unique position of being reverenced by political friend and foe for his absolute honesty of purpose and his detestation of anything mean or small. He lias been unable to avoid great riches, and the tra-

ditions of his family made it almost impossible to avoid leadership in polities. It is already being said that the traditions of the British Parliament may become fractured by his withdrawal from the leadership of the Unionists, but we believe that the greatest men of the House of Commons, however Liberal their views, are as carefully Conservative in their detestation of pinchbeck and much of the "cheap and nasty" in politics as even a Cecil could be. Mr. Balfour's influence is a very potent one. and it will remain. Whoever sue ceeds him as leader of the Unionist party will without question accept him as a political model, but whether he will have the peculiar facility of Mr. Balfour of controlling many minds by the power of his own remains to be seen. The resignation may be later regarded as a severe blow to Unionism and a remarkable aid to Liberalism, but at the present party feuds die down in astonishment at an unforeseen happening. Ultimately it is possible that Mr. Balfour's action will upset the balance of parties, and that section of the Unionist party which, greatly to the pain of the retiring leader, "kicked over the traces," will be worth watching.