Mr. Baldwin has produced a surprise in choosing Mr.' Edward
Wood, the Minister of Agriculture, to succeed Lord Iteading as Viceroy of India. Lord Reading will retire next April. To us the surprise is an extremely agreeable one.. Mr. Wood is a man of fine mind and fine character. A more promising selection could not have been made. The fact that he has made no special study of India is not a disadvantage. What is wanted is a man of general wisdom, powers of clear thinking and a strong moral purpose. We are specially pleased by the appoint- ment because it is a sign that Mr. Baldwin in spite of the attacks upon him is strong enough to follow his own course and to resist the pressure put upon him to appoint some far less suitable man for private reasons. Mr. Wood, son and heir of Lord Halifax who was prominent for many years as President of the English Church Union, is a Fellow of All Souls. He has been a member of Parliament since 1910, and has been Under-Secretary for the Colonies and President of the Boaid of Education. It will be remembered that he made over his house, Temple Newsam, which has been called the Hampton Court of the North, to the Leeds Corporation on very generous terms. * * * *
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