Mr, Ramsay MacDonald and Mr. Stanley Baldwin have changed places and the British Cabinet has been reshuffled and judicious! braced. Assuming that Reuter's forecast is substantially accurate, the immovables seem to be Mr.
Neville Chamberlain and Mr. J.
Thomas—possibly, too, Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell. Otherwise there has been a general post with a few disappearances and. additions, The most notable: newcomer is the Marquess of Zetland. The chief omissions appear to be the: names of Viscount Sankey, Mr. Walter Runciman and Sir John Gilmour.
Of these Mf: Runciman may not be definitely excluded, for his office, the Presidentship of the Board of Trade is not mentioned and he may turn out to be an "immovable" too. Mr. Eden's position as a Minister without portfolio is unusual. It has been said that he is considered too young for the Foreign Office where he has displayed uch marked ability. Another theory has accounted for his non-; ppointment as Sir John Simon's wwecessor on the ground that he has been too much inclined to seek the suffrages of Geneva. It is noteworthy that Lord Hardinge of Penshurst last month publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the peregrinatory habits of the Foreign Secretary and the Lord Privy Seal. ord Hardinge as a former permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and a former 'Ambassador in St. Petersburg and Paris, spoke with authority. His argument was that Ministers were usurping Ambassadors' functions and, to put it bluntly, were not nappy in the job. Lord Hardinge may, of course, have failed to grasp the special conditions created by the rapid transport of modern times, to say nothing of the conjorete' fact of the existence of geneva. Still many will be disposed to give weight to his opinion. Nevertheless it seems to be hard on Mr. Eden that his undoubted successes should be charged against him. It is even more absurd to cavil at his age. A, man of 38 should surely be exempt from the stigma of youthfulness. Indeed a little young blood in the national counsels is not to be despised. Mr. Eden's turn, it is suggested, will come. If ft came soon few would be shocked or surprised.
The Cabinet as reshuffled may perhaps be best regarded as strict~ ly fashioned to meet the exigencies of the dying Parliament. It is expected that a dissolution will take place in the Autumn. Therefore, with the General Election ess' than six months off, Mr. Baldwin may feel it desirable to show caution in allotting the various ministerial posts. Lord Zet-Jand's appointment is interesting. He sat as a Conservative, in the House of Commons for Hornsey, as the Earl of Ronaldshay from 1907 to 1916, before he went out to govern Bengal. He has never held office of any kind in any Government. He has important interests as a great landowner and it is usually understood that he refused the Viceroyalty 6f India in recent years on that account. It is possible, therefore, that his accept-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.