The reconstitution of the Cabinet, consequent on Mr. Wyndham's resignation,
and Lord Onslow's acceptance of the Chairmanship of Committees in the Lords, was com- pleted on Monday. Mr. Walter Long goes to the Irish Office, and Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes is the new President of the Board of Agriculture ; Mr. Gerald Balfour exchanges the Presidency of the Board of Trade for that of the Local Government Board, and the Marquis of Salisbury succeeds him at the Board of Trade. The last appointment was made the subject of a Motion for the adjournment of the House on Monday, on the ground that it was undesirable that the holder of the office should not be a Member of the Commons. Mr. Balfour met, or rather evaded, the argu- ment that his choice had been governed by a desire to avoid by-elections by condemning the system of re- election,—" a system which no practical Assembly in the world but our own would tolerate for an instant." Every Prime Minister had considered the claims of the Lords to a fair share of the great administrative offices of the State, and he had not altered the balance of Cabinet Ministers between the two Houses; he had left it where it was. Mr. Lloyd-George followed with a lively speech in which ho described the reconstitution as " a recasting of the family settlement," and the Motion was rejected by 239 to 167, or a majority of 72.
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