Apart from the President's address, the only feature of importance
at the Conference was the long and acrimonious debate over the Holmes circular. The only speaker who seemed to have any perception of the true significance of the episode was Sir James Yoxall, who spoke of Mr. Holmes as having been "made responsible by his official chiefs, who ought to have taken the responsibility op. their own shoulders." Mr. Ernest Gray, a former President of the N.U.T., who went far as to say that there was ground for action for libel in the circular, said that if when the document came before the House of Commons Mr. Runeiman had said, I know nothing of its issue ; I repudiate its policy; I have dismissed the official who sent it out," he would have been applauded from one end of the country to the other. This, in our opinion, involves a complete misconception of the true relation of Ministers and permanent officials. In view of the circumstances in which the circular came before the notice of the House, Mr. Runciman's first and most imperative duty was, as Parliamentary chief, to assume full responsibility for the action of the subordinate who ordered the issue of the circular. The contents of the document, substantially correct, though possibly expressed with a freedom unsuitable for public circulation—for which it was never meant—are quite negligible compared with the violation of a great tradition of our public service.
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