THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1950,
The Churchill Story: 7th
7th Instalment
BACK FROM THE WARS
father who took little part in
I terms of head con By Colin Frame debates for the first three years
Churchill's escape from the Boers was worth £10,- 000 to him. In terms of his career it was worth his heart's desire, a seat in the House of Commons.
He returned to Britain to find himself famous. There can be no complaint that financially and politically he began to cash in on this.
His enthusiastic agent in America, according to Ephesian's Churchill biography, had billed him as "the future Prime Minister of Great Britain."
Churchill had been annoyed and had made him take the placard downL
of his career.
He rose to make his maiden speech on the third day of the. session. And within two months he had made three important speechies. He was still, it ap- peared, in a hurry.
Maiden Speech HIS maiden speech followed
But in this year of triumph he
one by a rising politician must undoubtedly have won-
that high office on the Opposition benches Mr He lectured all over the coun-dered whether try. Halls were crowded. At might not after all lie along his Lloyd George. The subject was
the Boer War. Liverpool be was paid £960 path. Forty years and thirteen
election for one en
battles were Churchill's opening evening. He never more earned less than £100 a lecture, ranged ahead before the agent's were a modest but well-phrased
jibe, In November, 1900, the month prophetic billing came true. of his 26th birthday, he earned and banked £4,500.
U.S. Tour
words
*Instead of making his violent speech without moving his moderate amendment," he said of Mr Lloyd George, "he hard better have moved his amendment without making his violent speech."
Four of those elections were to end with his being discarded by the voters.
Yet few
have entered men THEN he crossed to America the House of Commons with with his thrilling stories. more promise. Youth, fame One of his chairmen there was and money were his already. He has since admitted that Mark Twain. And by the time Memories of his father, Lord those words, so characteristic of his tour was exhausted-as he Randolph Churchill, were vivid one who was to take Parliament was himself he had earned a in the minds of most members,
ary language by the neck and total of £10,000 in less than
make it lure and lash and plead. four months..
ever
י
Chip Of The Old Block
It was the first big money he
had. Up till then his House on the first day of here, as he entered the family had made him. an allowance of £500 a year and the first session of a new cen he had lived either on his subal-tury and a new reign, came a tern's pay or, more profitably, chip of the old block. on his pen.
To grasp the full drama of the Churchill story it is neces- From the moment he left the sary to recall points in the short, Army until he inherited in 1919 brilliant and finally tragic Par- a considerable amount of pro-liamentary career of his father. perty left by his great- grandmother, Frances Anne, Few meri tackled Gladstone Marchioness of Londonderry, he in all his glory so well as Lord lived entirely on the money he Randolph. Few men had such ́earned—and he lived well. a quick mind or such a witty
So with £10,000 invested-turn of phrase in attack. those were the days when MP's were not paid-Churchill felt But his attack was not levelled free to make for himself a new solely at the Liberals. He made career in politics.
and pulverise as no man of his half-century has done, were not his own.
They were
whispered to him
by his neighbour Mr T. G. Bowles as lost for an opening, he stood to speak.
EDITORS. PRESS SERVICE INC.-NUEVA YORK
1855
⠀⠀ “Would you kindly step to the rear of the bus, please?”
FOR THE BUSINESSMAN
General Motors
To Be Forced To
Keep Price Freeze
But for the rest Churchill had
Washington, Dec. 19. prepared well "For many
President Truman said today that the years," he has admitted, "I was unable to say anything except Government will force General Motors to abide by a sentence in rejoinder that I had the orders freezing the prices of its 1951 automo- not written out and committed to memory beforehand."
:
Unorthodox
biles.
The Economic Board, he
Stabilisation added, will tell
on
NLY once the smooth-General Motors to wipe out the flowing surface of his speech recently announced increases of one speech which so shocked his was ruffled by a chill gust which the prices for the 1951 models. own side that the Duke of heralded a storm to those Con-
Automobile workers will meet His return to Oldham, where Marlborough, his mutton-chop-servatives with ears pricked for he had been defeated. little whiskered father who was a bit echoes of Lord Randolph's re-with Government officials
...than a year "before, of a martinet, wrote apologies bellious voice. was a riot. "See the conquer-that he must have been "either ing hero comes" played the band mad or singularly affected with at the station, "God bless local champagne or claret.” Churchill, England's noblest hero," beseeched the coloured sash of a small girl seated in the front row at his meetings.
more
As "The Star" of those days announced: "Oldham appears to be in some doubt whether it was Lord Roberts, Mr Winston Churchill or Bill Adams who took Pretoria."
It is not unfair to suggest that all this hero worship led to Churchill being returned as Member, Oldham was tradi- tionally Liberal.
He stood as a Conservative, And on this occasion he was second to a Liberal in this two- seat constituency, and he beat another Liberal by only. 222 votes.
dash from the Boers and
•
"Future PM" HIS gallantry at the train, the the work of Mr Dewsnap of Oldham had done the trick
Victory lay in his hands and it felt good. At his second at- tempt he had succeeded in his youthful ambition to follow his father to the seat of govern- ment and power.
JEST A MINUTE
It was the first faint rum- bling of a rebellion which was to modernise the whole policy of the Conservative Party.
Lord Randolph, standing for what he called Tory democracy, gathered a
| Wednesday to discuss wage-price Churchill referred to the relationships. Boers who were fighting in the field "and if I were a Boer, I hope I should be fighting in the field," he cried.
This was unorthodox. It was
The challenging.
Treasury Bench before him swayed be- fore the gust.
turned Joseph Chamberlain group of MPS to his neighbour and whispered around him and with wit and "That's the way to throw away courage made the Parliament-seats." ary lives of the Old Guard un- bearable.
Winston Churchill was ten his father captured the when
organisation com- Tory party plete, became Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House.
of his
Then, at the height powers, he committed political suicide by abruptly resigning because the Services would not reduce their estimates.
For a
decade he was the idol of the crowd and the most often sought of Parliamentary speakers. Then he became ill and he died when he was 45.
Mannerisms
VINSTON
CHURCHILLL
Wever forgot his father's
rise and fall.
With this tale in mind MPs watched young Churchill as he entered the House, He walked in the same way as his father, fast with a pronounced stoop, his hat swinging in his hand.
He had his mannerisms twisting order papers into spills or rubbing his hand over his heart.
Where would he sit? In his father's old rebellious seat below the gangway?
Churchill
imme did not diately take this memorable seat. He settled down behind the Conservative Front Bench, an orthodox but not over modest position.
Then, recorded Ephes
But the speech in no way disappointed those who had the highest hopes of him-on both sides of the House.
"You are standing against the light," said Lloyd George to him afterwards.
No one could have realised how soon this dissimilar pair would be sitting in Opposition
side by side.
BRIDGE
STANDARD
`By M. Harrison-Gray Dealer: South, Game all
N.
J 9 8 3
A 6.5 $33
1044
10 5 9.8 2
#far
AQ 6
This enterprising slam had to be bid in the right suit. South bid One Heart, West Two Clubs and North Two Hearts. After this free raise South cautiously explored slam possibilities. His rebid of Two Spades was raised to Three Spades; North could have jumped to Four Hearts. but he realised that the hand might, play better in South's Shorter sult. South then bld- Four Clubs and North Four Diamonds, ES After this series of en couraging responses, South bid Five Spaces which, North raised to: Six
Wee
and Bouth, runde
by ruing tw
ne
his own hand and
dummy
Hearte
štam
if he had been there five years instead of five minu crossed his legs, tilbed
over his
deep
рос
– Hearts, sooner or later
must take the losing cont
The original order to cut back prices to the March 1 level was met by General Motors with a stoppage of sales for 1951 models Chevrolets, Pontiacs and of
Cadillacs,
Asked whether the Govern- auto- ment planned to force mobile companies to sell their cars, Mr Truman said he would: cross that bridge when he came to it.
one
IRREGULAR
TREND IN
GRAINS
Chicago, Dec. 19. Grain futures continued ir regular throughout the day's dealings and displayed great difficulty in maintaining strength. The selling and evening up of December grain and lard con- tracts carried grains and lard off in late dealings. Prices reached from 1-4 to as much as 3 cents from the early highs. This was the last day of trading in December grain and lard con-
The law specifies that the tracts.
Wheat futures closed 2- Government cannot compel any.
to sell anything-United | cents lower to % higher, corn Press
was lower to 4 higher, oats 3% to 4-% lower, rye 1⁄2 to 1-4 higher and soybeans to 1-3/4 cents lower.
today Motors
PROPOSAL REJECTED
Washington, Dec. 19.
Prices closed today as The Economic Stabilisation
follows:-- Agency
rejected the
Wheat-price per bushel General
proposal to Spot .. end its freeze on the sale of December
March (1951) 1951 automobiles if the Gov« May ernment allows them to rein- July state price increases.
A spokesman for the ESA said the Agency's order to the to roll automobile industry back prices on 1951 models to the December 1st levels stands, "Who is dictating He asked,
2.41
2.32 - 2.40%
*2.4076:
2.451 2.4012-14
Corn Spot December March (1951) May
Rye December May (1951)
2.74
1.7114-1.7015 1.71% -% 1.70%
1.84 1.7184
December
Our
March (1951)
952-14 9814-98
the price control of economy the General Motors
or this Agency?"a
In making the proposal, Gen- eral Motors said it would be willing to make rebates to dealers and customers on Ita cars if an examination proves that the price increases were not justified.--United Press.
Dats
NEW YORK - FLOUR-Der 200 lb. sack not, quoted.
-United Press.
RUBBER IN NY
New York, Dec. 19. Rubber futures closed today unchanged to 150 points lower with sales totalling 78 · con- tracts Dealers said the market. remained a thin affair 43 traders awaited. Washington de-
Tin velopments on controls. The
London Tin
Market
spot market ruled chill with quotations for Number averaging around 71 cents pound
Prices - closed today as fol lows London, Dec, 19.
Soot Prices of tin closed today at the end of the official morning
ver | July: session as follows: was 70 tons, including five for cash.
64.00 bid
50.00 biď
York Metals