Neither Mr. Lloyd George nor the Unionists implicated in these
undefined charges ought to leave the matter where it stands. We do not suppose the Unionist leaders have any- thing whatever to fear from Mr. Lloyd George's threatened disclosures, and even if they had we should still say that the only course was a full inquiry. Mr. Lloyd George ought to say precisely what he means, and the Unionist leaders ought to insist on having from him a precise statement. As Mr. Lloyd George said to Welsh school children last Sunday, "Let it be one of your mottoes in life not to be slipshod in anything, but cultivate exactness even in details." We cannot have too much exactness in this question of the relation of Ministers to the Stock Exchange and to the directorships of public companies. If we are not mistaken, some time ago the Westminster Gazette proposed that there should be a small Royal Commission to report on the whole question. We wish heartily to support that suggestion. It is time that the whole matter should be thrashed out, and rules formulated for governing the conduct of Ministers in their financial and commercial affairs.
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