AIR MINISTER RESIGNS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 May 1938, Page 7

AIR MINISTER RESIGNS

AS PART OF CABINET CHANGES IN BRITAIN

Mr Malcolm MacDonald Takes Colonies

MR WALTER ELLIOT MINISTER OF HEALTH

By Telegraph—Press Association. —Copyright. (Recd This Day, 9.35 a.m.)

LONDON, May 16. It is officially announced that Viscount Swinton (Secretary for Air), and Baron Harlech (Secretary for the Colonies), have resigned. The following new appointments have been made: — Secretary for the Dominions, Lord Stanley (hitherto Parliamentary Under-Secretary for India). Secretary for the Colonies, Mr Malcolm MacDonald (hitherto Secretary for the Dominions). Secretary for Air, Sir Kingsley Wood (hitherto Minister of Health). Secretary for Scotland, Lieut.-Colonel I. J. Colville (hitherto Financial Secretary to the Treasury). Minister of Health, Mr Walter Elliot (hitherto Secretary for Scotland). Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Captain Euan Wallace. Under-Secretary for India and Burma, Lieut.-Colonel A. J. Muirhead. Under-Secretary for Air, Captain Balfour. Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, Mr R. H, Cross. The resignation of the British Air Minister (Viscount Swinton) follows on predictions that it .might be enforced by criticisms of the Government’s air defence policy and demands for an inquiry. The resignation by Baron Harlech, hitherto Mr W. Ormsby-Gore, of the post of Secretary for the Colonies follows on his succession to the ( peerage as a result of the recent death of his father.

MR CHAMBERLAIN INDISPOSED.

(Recd This Day, 9.45 a.m.) LONDON, May 16.

The Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain), who is suffering from gout, is not leaving his room today, while his visit to Dundee to receive the'freedom of that city tomorrow, has been postponed.

A DIGNIFIED RETIREMENT.

VISCOUNT SWINTON OUTLINES DIFFICULTIES. PRIME MINISTER’S APPRECIATIVE REPLY. (British Official Wireless.) (Recd This Day, 10.50 a.m.) RUGBY, May 16. Viscount Swinton, in a letter conveying his resignation to Mr Chamberlain, after outlining the difficulties surrounding the fact that the Air Ministry was held in the House of Lords and that necessary preparatory work for the air expansion programme had already been completed, states that he is content to leave the judgment of his work at the Air Ministry until a later date, in light of fuller knowledge, ,What does matter,” he adds, “is the execution of the air programme and the maintenance of public confidence, and I cannot help feeling that in the actual circumstances of the moment I can help these ends and will help you best by putting you in a position where any personal criticism of myself may no longer prejudice the full achievement of what we tried to do together. I would therefore ask you to accept my resignation. I shall always be deeply grateful to you for all your help.” Mr Chamberllain, replying, says: “It is only fair to you to say that acceleration could not have started, as it has done, if you had not prepared in advance the plans necessary to carry it out, and this applies to all branches of your work.” ~ , , . , . , . Mr Chamberlain explains the regret with which he feels bound to recognise the force of the points made by Lord Swinton regarding the disadvantages of the Air Minister being in the House of Lords, and in accepting the resignation says he wishes Lord Swinton had m the Cabinet some other post, but “you have asked me to release you altogether, and I feel I cannot press you further. Baron Harlech has resigned on succeeding to the peerage. The new Air Ministry being in the House of Commons, the post of Deputy-Secretary for Air, created about two months ago, with a seat in the Cabinet, lapses. Lord Winterton, however, will remain in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. . The Duke of Devonshire, formerly Lord Hartington, remains Paihamentary Under-Secretary for the Dominions.