The Minister of Health is an ill-starred man. Fate has
ordained that he shall never mount a public platform without doing himself moral and material damage before he gets off it. Take his observa- tion last Saturday about Lord Milverton—" some obscure person I had never heard about." Now whatever Lord Milverton's merits or demerits (and I know very little about the latter), he can be justly described as the most experienced and distinguished colonial adminis- trator living. No one else, I believe, has held five different colonial Governorships. Lord Milverton's five are Fiji, North Borneo, Gambia, Jamaica, Nigeria. And Mr. Bevan had never heard of Lord Milverton. Well, why should he ? Mr. Bevan, after all, as Minister of Health is concerned primarily with domestic affairs. Quite so ; but there is such a thing as Cabinet responsibility, and colonial affairs have from time to time to be discussed by the Cabinet—including Mr. Bevan. What, not even knowing who Lord Milverton is, can he contribute to such a discussion ? However, omissions can be repaired. Mr. Bevan must know a lot about Lord Milverton now.
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