Sir Walter Layton and the Cabinet.
Sir Walter Layton's resignation of his position as British member of the Preparatory Committee for the World Economic Conference leaves a vacancy which no one who may be appointed in his place can adequately fill, for quite apart from Sir Walter's position as an economist he has a personal experience of international conferences which no member of the Government can match. His action must be taken as a serious criticism of the Cabinet's attitude towards the Conference, though the Prime Minister rejects the assumption that what is aimed at is only limited bilateral accords, not a more comprehensive lower-tariff arrangement. Sir Walter is of course, dead against the Ottawa agreements, but he is equally at variance with the Government in its insistence on its most-favoured-nation rights at all costs, even when they stand in the way of some valuable agreement between other States. The real fact is that- the Government is solidly Protectionist, whatever the personal views of one or two individuals like Mr. Runciman and the Prime Minister may be, and it is not very surprising that a Free Trader like Sir Walter Layton should find its ideas and his cannot harmonize.
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