It seems that there is no desire to unseat the
Govern- ment on the Poplar question. The solution of the difficulties created by the action of Mr. Wheatley, the Minister of Health, will probably be to concentrate, with general sanction, upon a much wider question than that of Poplar—in other words, upon the principles of Poor Law Reform in general. Mr. Asquith is less combative than he seemed last week, and Mr. Baldwin evidently does not want to be unhelpful to the Government in this matter. The Government can easily save Mr. Wheatley's face by showing that in rescinding the Mond Order, he was only flogging a dead horse, since the. Order was inoperative ; and as for Mr. Wheatley's apparent encour- agement of extravagance, they can repudiate the extrava- gance without verbally repudiating Mr. Wheatley. The general belief is that the Government will accept the outlines of the Report of the Local Government Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction, which was issued in January, 1918. Among the members of that Committee were Sir Donald Maclean and Lord George Hamilton— names which involve a certain good will on the part of both Liberals and Unionists.
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