18 MAY 1912, Page 3

At the annual meeting of the Primrose League in the

Albert Hall on Friday week Lord Curzon, after a felicitous eulogy of Mr. Balfour, welcomed the new leader of the Opposition and strongly defended his uncompromising directness of speech. Mr. Boner Law, who followed, alluded to the efforts of his opponents to belittle him by comparison with Mr. Balfour. They would fail because they did not know Mr. Balfour or him- self. "When any of my colleagues—apart from Mr. Balfour-- make speeches better than I have made I am not jealous. I feel that my position is that of the captain of a cricket team. The more of my colleagues who make ' centuries the better I shall be pleased, even though my own contribution to the score is a duck's egg.' But I may add that if I made too many ' ducks' eggs' I should begin to think that it was time that the team selected another captain." Mr. Bonar Law summed up the Disestablishment Bill in the words of the Spanish proverb : " He stole a pig and, in God's name, gave the trotters to the poor."