Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/213

 East End of London, and he thus enjoyed opportunities of studying conditions of life among the poorer classes. He interested himself in politics, adopting a toryism which was from the first of a 'progressive' type. In 1874 he was elected in the conservative interest member for the great working-class constituency of the Tower Hamlets amid the tory reaction which followed Gladstone's first administration. For the first time the constituency, which had two members, returned a tory. Ritchie headed the poll with 7228 votes—a majority of 1328 over the liberal, J. D'Aguilar Samuda, who was his colleague in the representation. The older tories regarded him with some suspicion, and he was termed a 'radical' when, in meeting his constituents after his first session, he described his work in the House of Commons (report of speech in Observer, 3 Oct. 1874). In his second session he increased his popularity with the working classes of East London by securing the passage of a bill extending the application of the Bank Holiday Act of 1871 to dockyard and customs house employees (24 Nov, 1875).

During the Disraeli government of 1874—1880 and later he devoted much of his parliamentary activity to the grievances of the English sugar refiners and the colonial growers of cane-sugar, notably in the West Indies, owing to the bounties paid in European countries upon the exportation of sugar beet. On 22 April 1879 he moved that a select committee should be appointed to 'consider the question and to report whether in their opinion any remedial measures could be devised by Parliament.' He suggested 'a countervailing duty equivalent to the bounty.' He defined free trade as 'the circulation of commodities at their natural value,' the natural value being what they would bring in free competition, but he deprecated the identification of his opinion either with protection or what is called reciprocity.' The proposed duty would be only 'an establishment of the principles of free trade, which had been practically destroyed by the bounties.' The motion was opposed by Mr. (now Lord) Courtney, but the committee was appointed, and Ritchie became chairman of it. The result was a recommendation in favour of the abolition of the continental bounties by means of an international agreement. The inquiry began a campaign against the economic system which was exemplified in the policy of sugar-bounties. Ritchie followed up the question in the next parliament and found himself in conflict with Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, then president of the board of trade and an advocate of free imports. Many years later, in a speech at Tynemouth (21 Oct. 1903), when both Ritchie's and Mr. Chamberlain's views of free trade had undergone a reversal, Mr. Chamberlain recalled the curious ’chasse-croise' which characterised their positions (Imperial Union and Tariff Reform: Speeches by J. Chamberlain, 1903, p. 109).

In the general election of March-April 1880 Ritchie was again chosen for the Tower Hamlets, no fewer than 11,720 votes being cast for him, but the first place at the poll was taken by a liberal, Mr. James Bryce, who obtained 12,020 votes. By vigorous criticism of the Gladstonian government, together with his work on the sugar bounty question, he acquired as a private member a reputation for business ability and a mastery of detail. After the Redistribution Act of 1885 Ritchie won the seat of St. George's-in-the-East. He was first elected on 20 Nov. 1885 and was re-elected on 6 July 1888.

In Lord Salisbury's first administration of June 1885 to Jan. 1886, Ritchie was first admitted to office, becoming financial secretary to the admiralty. During his seven months' tenure of this post he acted as chairman of a departmental committee to inquire into the general management and working of the dockyards and especially to investigate the causes of the slowness with which warships were turned out. The committee's recommendations resulted in a great acceleration in the process of shipbuilding and a considerable reduction in cost. Up to that time the construction and equipment of a first-class ironclad had taken on an average about seven years. The Royal Sovereign, a battleship of 14,000 tons, was built in two years and eight months (1888-91).

After the defeat of Gladstone's home rule government in July of 1886 and the return of the conservatives to power, Ritchie was appointed president of the local government board — at first without a seat in the cabinet. Mr. Henry Chaplin had been offered and had refused the post on the ground of its holder being excluded from the cabinet. But the conservatives had put the reform of local government among the first of the measures on their programme, and in April 1887, when the government decided to deal comprehensively with the subject, Ritchie received cabinet rank. For nearly a year he was occupied in the preparation of a voluminous measure dealing with the subject. On 19 March