I have had put to me a rather pertinent question,
which unfortunately I cannot answer without more research than I have time for—how many Presidents of the Board of Educc. tion have there been since the Board was created, and what k• their average term of office, the submission being that if then is any Ministerial post in the administration where continuity of policy is called for it is the direction of the national systez of education. Actually, to take recent years only, the averap tenure since, say, December, 1916, is lengthened by Nit H. A. L. Fisher's extended (nearly sir years) occupancy ti the post. From October, 1922, when Mr. Bonar Law formeO his Government, to last week there have been nine President of the Board, the average tenure being therefore a bare fraction over two years. Possibly Mr. R. A. Butler may stick to the stool long enough to lengthen the average out. A chang every two years can hardly be healthy—even if there wet: always a Morant in the office to make Ministers negligibl: A non-political President who could survive a change of Government might be a godsend. * * * *
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