July 19th they embodied their conclusion in the following resolution, which they sent to the Prime Minister :

"The Committee are of opinion, in view of the evidence already taken, that a change of system should be made at once, and recommend that the whole organisation of the recruiting medical boards and of the medical examinations and re-examinations should be transferred from the War Office to the Local Government Board. That the Committee are of opinion that, in order to restore public confidence, this change should be made at the earliest possible moment, and be not delayed until the Committee present their full report in accordance with their terms of reference."

Upon this resolution immediate action was taken. Lord Derby attended a sitting of the Committee on July 24th, and said he "accepted the resolution absolutely, and with both hands." Moreover, he asked the Committee to go further:—

"I want you to recommend that the whole of the recruiting, from A to Z, should be taken out of the hands of the War Office and the military authorities and be entrusted to civilian powers. That is taking a very big step, and you will excuse me if I do not say whether it ought to go to any particular body, perhaps an ad hoc body. But I am certain it is the right course to take the whole of the recruiting out of military hands and put it in civilian hands. Without touching, except in a general sense, on the evidence put before you, I recognise absolutely that there are certain things which must be remedied. Your resolution, to a certain extent, would remedy them. But you are not healing the whole of the wound. You ought to make it a condition that a civilian body finds the men, and it is only after going through all the various processes of seeing whether they can be spared from their employment and whether they are fit for the various categories of service the Army require when you have done that and passed them through these various stages, then alone should the Army come in."-(Select Committee, July 24th, 1917.)

Lord Derby declared this was no new-found doctrine to him-he had held this view for some time. He had submitted the proposal to transfer the control of recruiting to civilian authority with the Prime Minister, and Mr. Lloyd George had said, "All right." Lord Derby added that he put forward the policy as Secretary of State for War, that the principle could be accepted straight away, and that the complete transfer could be carried out

in two months.

The question of the output of beer was OUTPUT OF BEER. discussed in the House of Commons on July 5th, when Mr. Bonar Law confirmed the announcement of the Government's policy, which was made in the MAGAZINE for July at page 304-that it had been decided to permit the brewing of 33 per cent. more beer during the quarter ending on September 30th. In explaining the change of intention, Mr. Bonar Law pointed out that there was always a greater consumption

of beer in the summer months, and said the Government were aware of the difficulties caused by the deficiency of beer in some of the large centres of population and for harvest purposes. He also stated that there was sufficient malt in stock for the new brew, but more sugar might have been used.

Mr. Leif Jones moved the adjournment of the House with a view to a discussion of the Government's change of policy, and he passed a severe criticism upon the Government for making any concession. Arguing that the increased supply was not in the least necessary either for munition workers or for harvesters, he contended that either the food position was not so serious as the Government stated, or that the Government were now endangering the health of the country by dealing with food commodities to increase the output of small beer. Sir George Cave, who replied on behalf of the Government, declared that the serious deficiency of beer in many parts of the country had caused unrest and even strikes, which interfered with the output of munitions and the conduct of the war. Having announced that 13 per cent. of the 33 per cent. increase would be brewed at a low gravity, and placed at the disposal of the Food Controller for distribution in munition areas and agricultural districts for harvest purposes. Sir G. Cave said that so far as sugar was concerned, the present ration for brewers would not be increased. In the result the motion for the adjournment was defeated by 130 votes to 44.

Ministerial Changes.

The following is a statement of recent Ministerial changes :Previous Occupant.

SIR E. CARSON (U) ... First Lord of the Ad

MR. A. CHAMBERLAIN (U)

DR. ADDISON (L)

War Savings.

miralty

Office.
Member of War Cabinet

New Occupant.
Sir E. Carson (U).

SIR ERIC Geddes.

MR. MONTAGU (L).

DR. ADDISON (L).

Secretary of State for
India

Minister in Charge of

Reconstruction (without
Portfolio)

Towards the end of July it was reported that there are 35,473 War Savings Associations and 1,459 Committees working in England and Wales. Up to the end of June 25,991,600 applications had been received for £1 certificates, 617,879 for £12 certificates, 922,246 for £25 certificates, 171,533 for certificates from £26 to £499, and 55,226 for £500 certificates. To the gross total of £109,435,266, England and Wales have contributed £99,196,950, Scotland £8,884,090, and Ireland £1,354,226.

MR. PROTHERO: "In December, 1916, farmers were thoroughly disheartened. Our manufacturers of agricultural machines were reduced to such a state that they would not guarantee for 1917 the production of the ordinary requirements of agriculture, and the Government refused the application of the Board of Agriculture."

AN HON. MEMBER: "Which Government?"

MR. PROTHERO: " "The late Government. The Treasury refused to sanction the purchase of American tractors for a sum of £350,000." MR. MCKFNNA: I do not remember any circumstances of that kind." MR. PROTHERO: "I shall be very happy to supply the right hon. gentleman with them."

(2) July 24th, 1917.

MR. PROTHERO: "Last night, speaking on the Corn Production Bill, I described the condition of agriculture at the end of 1916 as a justification for the measure. In making that point, I did not desire to attack, or even to criticise, the late Government, and hoped that I had said so; but, in stating the difficulty of obtaining tractors, I fell into the error of, at all events, implying that the applicants for £350,000 for tractors from America by the Board of Agriculture was refused by the late Government. That was not the fact. The final letter from the Board of Agriculture specifically asking the Treasury for this authority was sent in on December 9th. My right hon. friend opposite (Mr. McKenna) left, I believe, on the 11th. The Treasury, in its reply, asked to defer the question until the following month owing to the difficulty of making payments to America. On December 21st I spoke to the present Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject, and he agreed to sanction the expenditure. A formal letter authorising it was sent from the Treasury on the 23rd. I greatly regret that I should have made this mistake, and I beg to offer the right hon. gentleman opposite my apologies in the fullest and frankest way."

New Publications.

[Where Post-free prices are given the publication can be obtained at that price from the Liberal Publication Department, 42, Parliament Street, London, S. W. 1.]

Liberalism for Short. By George Radford. (London: Constable & Co.) Price 1s. 6d. net.

Mr. Radford is well known as a writer on the economics of land utilisation. He has made a study of agricultural co-operation and organisation, and on the relation between the farmer and the State, and this new paper-covered booklet of 110 pages contains a development of his ideas applied to a variety of problems which must be tackled and solved for the public good by Liberal methods

in the near future. Mr. Radford wants to see State activities in being which shall not merely add to the amenities of the community, but which shall regulate developing here, keeping in check there— movements and interests on which the social and material welfare of the nation depend. His essay is not a merely party appeal: it will appeal to the thoughtful men of any party, because he uses the word Liberalism as "the short title for a big and broad policy of Good."

We have received from Messrs. P. S. King & Co. a threepenny pamphlet on Electoral Reform, by Mr. A. H. Macmurdo. The writer discusses the plan of voting by occupation instead of by districts. The principle of this way of voting is in partial operation in South Australia, where the railway employees, for example, elect a direct representative, and have no local vote.

We have received from Livesey Ltd., of Shrewsbury, an admirably arranged chart showing the new rates of Army Allotment and Separation Allowances. The scale of Allowances is really a very complicated affair, and Mr. John T. Vaughan, of the Army Pay Office, Shrewsbury, who has compiled this chart, has succeeded in so presenting its details that the complications disappear, and the precise amount of allotment and allowance due in any particular case can be ascertained practically at a glance. The chart is printed on a stout card, and can be obtained for sixpence (post free) from the Liberal Publication Department, 42, Parliament Street, S.W. 1.

We have received from the Cobden Club (Broadway Court, Westminster, S.W. 1) copies of two new leaflets:

·

No. 201.-Appeal of American Free Traders to Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour and M. René Viviani.

No. 202.-A Canadian View of Imperial Preference. This is a very interesting article by Mr. Bowman of the Ottawa Evening Citizen.

In a note appended to the second of the leaflets, it is pointed out that, since Mr. Bowman wrote this article for the Cobden Club, the Free Traders of Canada have had a great triumph. In the course of the war the Dominion Government has accepted, in so far as wheat and wheat products are concerned, the Reciprocity Agreement offered to them by the United States during the Presidency of Mr. Taft. There is now Free Trade in wheat, wheat flour, semolina, and similar products between the Dominion and the Republic. As this has been the battleground between Free Traders and Protectionists in Canada ever since America proposed the preferential arrangement, such a great concession to Free Trade on the part of the Borden Government is scarcely less sensational a triumph than the Repeal of the Corn Laws by Sir Robert Peel was to our own Free Traders of seventy years ago.

It

THE Editor of the LIBERAL YEAR BOOK (Liberal Publication Department, 42, Parliament Street, S. W. 1) will be very glad if suggestions for next year's issue can be sent to him at once. often happens that suggestions, excellent in themselves, cannot be adopted because they come when it is too late to work them or the available space in the YEAR BOOK has already been filled. Bis dat qui cito dat.

A COPY of the Index to Volume XXIV., completed by the January number of THE LIBERAL MAGAZINE will be sent post free to any subscriber on application to the Liberal Publication Department, 42, Parliament Street, S.W. 1.

THE bound volume of THE LIBERAL MAGAZINE for 1916 (Volume XXIV.) may be obtained for 5s. 6d. post free from the Liberal Publication Department, 42, Parliament Street, S. W. 1.