Lord Spencer has resigned the Presidentship-in-Council, but retains his seat
in the Cabinet. It is supposed that Lord Rose- bery will be President-in-Council, but nothing is yet known, and Mr. Gladstone has stated that the opportunity will be taken to improve the Departmental arrangements for Scotland and for the representation of agriculture. Two ideas are said t) be before the Cabinet,—one, that there should be a separate Ministry of Education and a Vice-President of Council for Agri- culture; and another,thatAgriculture shouldbe asub-department of the Board of Trade. It would be easier to adopt the former, which cannot be long postponed, and assign Agriculture to the President, with a Vice-President for Scotland. The President even now manages himself the most pressing of agricultural business, the Act for stamping out cattle disease. Any arrange- ment, however, is good, provided it does not increase the number of Cabinet Ministers.
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