15 JANUARY 1921, Page 2

Lord Reading has accepted the Viceroyalty of India. Last week,

when the matter was still unsettled, we made a strong protest against the idea of Lord Reading being appointed.

We stated our reasons plainly, and we are glad to have put them

on record. But now that the appointment has been made, we shall not repeat our criticisms. Deep though our misgivings are, this is not the time—for-the crisis in India is very grave— even to seem to put difficulties in the way of whoever takes up authority in India. On Tuesday Lord Reading received the congratulations of the Bar. In the course of his reply he said :— " It is good to look ahead—I do—with hope, with trust in the future, believing that going to India, as I do, with the sole desire to do right, if I may not make a great name I cannot make a great failure ; for no one going. there, animated by a desire to do right, devoted to his duty, anxious to prove to the best of his ability that his country's selection was justified, can at least fail to impress all those •qualities upon him."