The New Front Bench The Cabinet appointments which were announced
just too late for comment a week ago bear out that belief. There is obvious intent in the combination of a convinced Protectionist in Mr. Chamberlain as Chan- cellor of the Exchequer with a convinced, but by no means bigoted, Free Trader in Mr. Runciman at the Board of Trade. The most interesting and the least expected choice was that of Sir John Simon as Foreign Secretary. In his succession to Lord Reading there is a certain appropriateness, but Sir John's predecessor was not at the Foreign Office long enough to leave much impress there. In proceeding at once to Paris to discuss the Manchurian affair as a member of the League of Nations Council the Foreign Minister is faced with a great responsibility and a great opportunity, for on the action taken by him and his colleagues there the future of the League may largely depend. Of the junior appointments, particular satisfaction will be felt at the acceptance by Lord Lothian (content with something less than- his deserts) of the post of Under-Secretary for India and the retention by Major Walter Elliot of the Secretaryship to the Treasury, in this ease no doubt, as so often before, a stepping-stone to the Cabinet. In Mr. R. S. Hudson, the new Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, the Front Bench obtains a recruit of whom more will be heard, particularly in coming debates on unemployment insurance. * * * *
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