FISHER v. CHURCHILL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 301, 29 May 1915, Page 3

FISHER v. CHURCHILL.

SEA LORD AND CIVILIAN. During the past few days many people in New Zealand and Australia have been surprised by the sudden news 'of a leconsti'uction of the Imperial Cabinet. The new situation nad the appearan.-e of a " revolution" in. the old order of politics, but it is the final turn in a process of evolution, of which the hidden lorces have bi.eu very active during tiie past few weeks. London knew some time ago tliaL Mr. Winston Churchill was to tind a new sphere for his versatility, and American papers also had information which enabled them to announce the end of that Minister's attempt to be a naval expert, but tne rigid censorship delayed the transmission of this news'to tho dominions overhCUS.

On April 18, the New York Times published an article, headed: •'Churchill to Leave Admiralty—May Succeed Lord Hardinge as Viceroy of India, thus solving the Tangles Due to His Navy Administration." Below these headings comes a picture of the main front of the new Government House, Delhi. The following passages give the principal points of the article:— "Winston Spencer Churchill, on his transfer from the Secretaryship of State for tdi» Home Department where he had run things in a very autocratic fashion —to the Admiralty soon usurped all the authority of the Sea Lords, which he was allowed to do by Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg, then First Sea Lord. He treated Prince Louis and the other Sea Lords as mere subordinates, without any authority, aud actually assumed on several occasions the direction of naval manoeuvres from on board ship, as lr an admiral, although wholly without any professional experience.

"iAdmiral Lord Fisher, who was for a long time First Sea Lord before Mr. Churchill ever came to the Admiralty, is of a very masterful disposition. ITe. is not the sort cf man to put up with'" any usurpation of his prerogatives, or to permit the slightest interference with what he considers to be his particular duties. It was easy to foresee, therefore, when he was called upon by popular sentiment, and sorely against the wishes of Winston Sponccj Churchill, to succeed Prince Louis of Battenberg, that he would not he able to work in double harness with the present head of the' department. While extremclv self-assertive, impatient. of contradiction, and authoritative. Mr. Churchill is very far from being a fool. hile not a statesman in the broad sense of the word, he is very brilliant as a: politician, and is clever enough to realise that if any issue were raised between himself and Lord Fisher, rendering tho retiremenJ of" one or the other from the Admiralty imperative, the Cabinet would be compelled by national sentiment, and by public feeling throughout the length and breadth of the vast British Empire, to espouse tile cause of Fisher, and to throw him, Winston Churchill, overboard, in order to save itself from shipwreck. ITe lm* been glad, therefore, to avail himself of the opportunity aiTonled by the impending vacancy in the high olliee of {lovernor'Geueral of India, to withdraw, in a manner particularly advantageous to himself, from a position at Whitehall which had become quite untenable." The American paper's promotion of Mr. (,'hotvhii 1 io tiie Vice-Royalty of India is not supported by recent cablo messages. The reports state that .Ml', ffarcourt (So, rotary of Stale for the Colonies) will succeed Lord Hardinge, and that Mr. Churchill will replace Mr. llarcoiii't in the Colonial Office.