It was announced on Wednesday that Mr. Arthur Henderson, the
Labour M.P. for Barnard Castle, had tendered his resignation as President of the Board of Education. Mr. Henderson has been criticized in some quarters for devoting most of his time to Labour questions instead of to education, and these criticisms, it seems, have caused him to offer to resign. He took a similar step last January, when a Labour Party Conference decided to oppose the Military Service Bill and to withdraw its support from the Coalition; but the Labour Party soon revised its views, and Mr. Henderson withdrew his resignation within a week. It is suggested that the present difficulty will be overcome by his transference to another office, and it is already stated that he may become Labour Adviser to the Government—a half-way house, presumably, to the creation of a Labour Ministry. Mr. Henderson's moderating influence in the councils of Labour and his experience in handling trade disputes in the munition works have been of great value to the Coalition Ministry, although he has been unable to attend to the immensely important work of his own Department.
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