Frew Our Ows London, June 13.
Mr, MacDonalds announcement of the composition of his second Mihistry has been very well received. The general opinion seems be that it is the best that could Ihave been conceived to carry out the programme of watered-down Soeialism to which Mr. MacDonald will Save to stick if he wants to remain in ofice. The country seems fully prepared to give them a chance and the Stock Exchange has shown its relief by registering a minor boom.
Mr. MacDonald is evidently convince) by his last experiment that it is not possible to double the riles of Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary with much success. The vorlict after his brief tenure of tffese two posts was that he was an admirable Foreign Secretary but a moderate Prime Minister. This time he has appointed Mr, Arthur Henderson to look after "Foreign Affairs. The choice is not sury jit is a safe choice, because Henderson can be trusted to prove adequately susceptible to the fervent interest which his chie gown to take in foreign affa Me. J.-H. Thomas, as Lord Privy Seal, is to be specially entrusted with the Work of initiating and coordinating plans for dealing with the unemployment problem. assisted in this work by Miss Margaket Bondfield at the Ministey of Labour, Mr. George Lansbury, the First Commissioner of Works, and! Sir Oswald Mosley, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Miss Mar-garer Bondfield can be trusted to initiate an energetic policy at the] Ministry of Labour and the appointment is considered a very suitable one for the first woman Minis She, began life as and spent 11 years as a shop assist-fant," Later she became prominent in the Women's "Trade Union Organization and entered' Parliament in 1923.
Mr, 'Tom Shaw, now: War Secretary,"was Minister of Labour in the' last Socialist Government. Te 4s chiefly famous for his remark, when badgered in the House about his plans to deal with the unemploymeht problem, that he could not be expected to "produce rabbits out of & hat." He is 57 and is said to an expert linguist. He began Life as a mill worker, Lord Thomson is again Secretary for Air and no one can have any ymplaint on this score, nor on the appointment of the Right Hon.
joe] Buxton as Minister of Agriculture, Both are experts in their respective departments. The apointment of Mr, Sidney Webb to the Colonial Office certainly came fas a surprise, in view of his having devoted so much of his life to domestic affairs, but it is certainly interesting that his organizing mind should have a chance to show what can accomplish in other directions and the field now at his disposal nly full of opportunities. His tment coincides with the issue of yet another of those monumental Vooks on social economics compiled by himself and his wife.
What few night clubs remain to much-chastened London can rest cosily after seeing Mr. Clynes appointed Home Secretary. He is not Tikely to take any drastic or tyranni-The appointment of Cap-to the India Ofice is generally welcomed as about the best choice that could be made ith the available material. He i a well liked and clear-headed little man and is unlikely to do anything unwise, Sir C. P. Trevelyan comes to the Beard of Education for the second time and his appointment was regarded as inevitable in view of the great interest he has always taken in educational matters. He was formerly a Liberal and was Secretary to the Board of Trade, the Right Hon. William G also well placed. ies and one of his chief delights is the tending of Blue Books. He should do very well in his new position, There were many prophecies as to who was to) be the First Lord of the Admiralty. Even the name of Lieut-Cmdr. Kenworthy was mentioned, to the horror of naval officers. The choice of Mr. Alexander must be regarded fairly satisfactory. He is a stal rt of the ce-operatives and has the reputation of being a strong' man, but whether he will be strong enough to stand up to the Sea Lords on the tricky question of Naval Disarmament remains to be seen.
Sir Oswald Mosley is probably little chagrined at being only Cha cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, not in the Cabinet and burdened with the dificult business of assisting Mr. Thomas with the unemployment problem. However, he can console himself that no less a person than Mr. Churchill held this post for two years during the war and was not @epressed unduly thereby, The omissions are almost as teresting as the inclusions, the most noticeable, of course, being Mr. Wheatley and Mr, Maxton, though neither was really unexpected. Both of them are full of energy and ability and they will now form the head of a "ginger group," to whose les Mr. MacDonald can hardly be looking forward with very much
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.