CABINET CHANGES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 171, 22 July 1941, Page 7

CABINET CHANGES

Reshuffle Of Familiar Kind, [ Says Press t : PAR EAST SITUATION" : LONDON, July 21. • „ a leader dealing with the : 9l bm< r, t T . c . ha nges, the "Daily Mail" r 5 a > s .- 1 . " is just a reshuffle of a too- ' r^? 11 Vi Mr. Duff Cooper, as i Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancasi Mr. Oliver Lyttelton, recently ap- : * or Ministerial duties in the , Middle East. "The Far Eastern situation justifies the presence of a Minister of the highest status, and. if there should be serious developments there, his duties may be even more important I than Mr. Lyttelton's. "Complex national interests converge at Singapore. Britain, the Dominions, the United States France and Holland are all deeply concerned with Japanese policy: also, supply lines centre upon Singapore from Britain, India and Uie Dominions. The task of the new Minister calls for outstanding qualities of diplomacy and statesmanship." "The Times,** in a leader, says: Mr. Brendan Bracken's appointment as Minister of Information should encourage all who hoped to see the much-criticised Ministry emerge from its troubles and play a constructive part in the conduct of the war. Mr. Bracken will not lack knowledge, because he knows the Press well and is well known to the Press for initiative, energy and enterprise. No better choice could have been made. "The Government changes do not give an answer to the suggestions that have been urgently and cogently advanced for clearer control ana direction of the nation's industrial effort. Reorganisation of leadership of the industrial front remains an over-riding public interest." The Parliamentary correspondent of "The Times" says Mr. Duff Cooper's special task is presumably not comparable with Mr. Lyttelton's, because he goes to the Far East not as a Minister of State, but as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. His ■ visit also is apparently to be a temporary one, because he is charged with "examining and reporting."