26 OCTOBER 1934, Page 6

At the same time the difference in the position accorded

to Mr. Henderson in both biographies is notable. For he is conspicuous in both, in Mr. Lloyd George's in connexion with his visit to Russia in 1917, the discussions about the Stockholm Conference, the " door-mat inci- dent " and the resignation • from the War Cabinet ; and in Lord Snowden's in connexion with the formation of the Labour Governments of 1924 and 1929. Mr. Lloyd George, who was radically opposed to his colleague at the end, speaks of him with studied respect, and goes so far as to describe him as " the greatest political organizer of his day." Lord Snowden recalls the sur- prising fact that when Mr. Ramsay MacDonald was forming his first Labour Government he tried to fob Mr. Henderson off with the chairmanship of the Committee on Ways and Means (he actually became Home Secretary) and describes the tussle between Mr. Henderson and Mr. J. H. Thomas for the Foreign Secretaryship in 1929. The world has considerable reason for thankfulness that it ended as it did.