Ministerial Roundabout
As so often in the case of Cabinet changes recently, there seems to be at least as much to be said against the appointments consequent on Sir Kingsley Wood's death as there is in favour of them. Sir John Anderson will no doubt make a competent Chancellor of the Exchequer, but no more competent than three or four other Ministers who could quite well be replaced in their present posts. And Sir John, as the member of the War Cabinet in general charge of home affairs, has been doing behind the scenes a great deal of most valuable work which no one else is likely to do as well— certainly not Mr. Attlee, if it is to him that the task will fall. The reasons for Lord Beaverbrook's return neither public conjecture nor private surmise can supply, nor has his sphere of activity been indi- cated. So far as public opinion can be gauged, it is more likely to be disturbed than reassured by this appointment. The changes at the Foreign Office are dealt with more fully in another column ; all that need be said here is that the advancement accorded to Mr. Richard Law is amply deserved, and will give general satisfaction. Lord Cranborne's move to the Dominions Office puts the important questions of intra-Commonwealth relations after the war in the hands of a Minister of proved ability and political wisdom. Apart from the appointment of Mr. J. P. L. Thomas as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and of Mr. Beeman to be a Lord Com; missioner of the Treasury, the opportunity of strengthening the administration by the introduction of new blood has not been taken. It would be a departure worth making.
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