The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY. MAY 15, 1942. LORD BEAVERBROOK'S ECLIPSE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 111, 15 May 1942, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY. MAY 15, 1942. LORD BEAVERBROOK'S ECLIPSE

' J,ord Beaverbrook retired iroin the Cabinet the reason I given was that he was suffering from ill-health, and the opinion was expressed that this dynamic personality, who had had so much to do and say, in Russia and in America as well as in the United Kingdom, would again be back in harness. The probability is that he feels that the Prime Minister is neglecting an opportunity Io re-employ him now that his health lias mended. At any rate it seems improbable that a prospective member of the War Cabinet of the United Kingdom should avail himself, seemingly unsought, of an opportunity to express an opinion on the subject of high strategy at a time when no responsible Minister would make any suggestion in public on that subject. The probability is that Lord Beaverbrook feels the necessity of drawing attention to himself, otherwise he would not have permitted himself the indiscretion of advocating the following of reckless courses. If reckless courses were to be embarked upon, the way to make them more so and to ensure their abortiveness in results, would be to give due notice to the enemy of such an intention. After Winston Churchill returned from America after his December visit, Lord Beaverbrook was given the seemingly important post of Minister of Production, the functions of which post were set out in a White Paper. He held the office for only a few weeks, and the significant thing is that no successor has been appointed, the White Paper was abandoned, and the Ministry was derelict. “One cannot resist the inference that the White Paper conditions were drafted to suit individual temperaments and idiosyneracies,” declares the London Sunday Times, which is a diplomatic way of saying something quite polite while implying something very pointed. Lord Beaverbrook may have been a very able chief of aircraft production, “but individual temperaments and idiosym-ra-eies” may be a handicap which can outweigh other useful qualities. In wartime it is teamwork that counts more than in peacetime.