31 JANUARY 1936, Page 2

From Laval to Sarraut It is not much to the

.purpose to discuss the prospects of the new French Cabinet at length here, since M. Sarraut will have met the Chamber before these lines appear, and to judge from present indications may quite possibly find his Government ended almost before it has begun. Its prospects have recently changed for the worse in the course of less than a week. At first the omens for the new administration were hopeful. It represented a Left-Centre Republican concentration stretching far enough to the Right to bring in M. Flandin and his Democratic Alliance Group. So at least it appeared. But it turns out that M. Flandin has acted without his Group, which by no means approves of his co-operation with various sworn Radicals in the Cabinet. In view of the opportunity M. Hamlin has had as Foreign Minister, during his visit to London for the King's funeral, of discussing international affairs with Mr. Eden, it will be a misfortune if the Cabinet of which he is a member fails to survive for the brief period between now and the March electiCns. But the destructive tendencies of the French Chamber are inveterate, and once again it looks as though a coalition was beginning to disintegrate from the moment of its formation.