The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1915. MR. LLOYD GEORGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 297, 25 May 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1915. MR. LLOYD GEORGE.

The remarkable change or attitude exhibited by tho banking magnates towards Mr. Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Home Government, is an illustration of how circumstances alter cases, as well as of how the despised and scorned may become the heroes of the hour. It' seems but yesterday, though in reality it is many months back that there was no more thoroughly hated personage in the eyes of the wealthy than Mr.-Lloyd George. He was regarded as a blatant demagogue, an arch-Socialist, a despoiler of the rights and" possessions of the landowners and financial magnates, a, man who would bring disaster on his country by crushing its .backbone—the landed gentry and the people, of wealth. His organised campaign in connection with what were termed his revolutionary Kudget proposals was regarded with horror, not unmixed with dread, by the classes mentioned above, and his downfall was advocated with ever-increasing stridency. Put the hand of Fate intervened, and a change lias come o'er the shadow which he had conjured up to darken the horizon of the great men of the country. That cloud melted away at the approach of the far more lurid blaze in the national sky caused by the war fiends of Germany and Austria. The Empire's hour of storm and stress had arrived, and with it came the opportunity for Mr. Lloyd George to prove his mettle in such a decisive way as to convince his erstwhile bitter opponents that he was one of the most able statesmen of the day, and a Chancellor who could be safely trusted to administer the finances of the country on a scale of far greater proportion than any country had been called upon to face. 'How he is accomplishing his task we all know, and we honor him f»v his coinage and resource, as well as for his magnificent patriotism. ft, is not, therefore, surprising to (mil that the banking magnates of the city of London have approached Mr. Asquith, the Prime Minister, with a view to e\presing their regret that it was proposed to transfer Mr. Lloyd George to the "War Office, and to urge bis retention of the Chancellorship, to whirii Mr. A-.ouith has agreed. No incident'in Mr. Lloyd George's career should be so gratifying to him, for it gives him his hour of triumph, though bis sincerity

recognition of Ms remarkable administrative talents. Tlmt lio> thoroughly deserves the confidence of the nation, and especially of its financial: lias been fully proved. The. despised of yesterday is the hero of to-day. Truly, the affairs of life, havo'wonderful surprises in store.