On Friday week in the Moose of Commons the New
Ministries Bill passed through Committee, but the now Ministry of Recon- struction was sharply criticized, and a wrecking amendment moved by Mr. Hewins was rejected bya majority of only twenty-five votes. SirGeorge Cave explained that the new Ministry would be a " think- ing Department "—not, we hope, unlike other Departments in that respect—and the Minister would collect information and report his conclusions to the Cabinet. We cannot say that the selection of Dr. Addison as Grand Counsellor to the Cabinet and nation inspires us with confidence. We doubt whether any one man is qualified to grapple with the many tremendous problems involved in the transition from war to peace. Presumably the new Minister will be little more than the salaried Chairman of the Reconstruction Committee whirls has been in existence for many months, and has no doubt collected masses -of information in readiness for Dr. Addison's advent.
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