The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-24


 isters &'ane with the mere form If che sovereign of th'} cAw ministers King E hy with this tradi- ti S the last few days
 with Mr. BaIfour as to the advisasiIity from the point of view of the national welfare of Baifour's suggested appointments Ministers now n4kilug ofiieeaanj those nominated for 1 office have Oeen sgia,ndl,rsl to Bailaoral to join in these conferences and all have been subjected to degree of interroga- tion such has surprised even those who knew King Edward intimately as Prince of Wales.
 To such an extent Is King Edward hold- ing his power of veto In reserve that now he is almost regarded by the inner circles as more the cabinet maker than MT Balfour himself. Though with his usual tact, the king has refraned from expressing any political views or inl fringing on the fnitiative belonging to the ministers. this has not prevented him from expressing his genuine desire amounting almost to a command, that steps be taken 10 remedy the scandals in the army administration revealed by tho report of the South African war commig-
 
 shall be one adapted to deal with that question.
 Due to Bad System. After the long conversations he has had 1 during the last few days at Balmoral , with Lord Lansdowne, Mir Brodrick. Lord Fisher who was president of the South African war commission, Lieutenant General Sir T. kelly-Kenny and other military authorities, the king is said to have expressed the opinion that Lord Lansdowne's record as war secretary was due more to the badness of the system then in vogue, than to any defect in Lord Lansdowne's own judgment King Edward has not shared the keen public indignation against Lord Lansdowne aroused by the report of the South Afri- can war commission, and after minute examination Of the circumstances. he Is understood to have consented to his lord- ship continuing foreign minister. This decision has not prevented his majesty from frankly telling the ministers that he wanted something done to improve the military muddle, and that he hoped some man would be appointed who. with the commissions report as a basis. would be capable of changing the system which rendered inefficiency unavoidable.
 The question of having some general. notably Lord Kitchener. as head of the war office. has been keeniy discussed at Balmoral between the king and ministers. but the Associated Press understands that the concensus of opinion was that sucsh an appointment would be interpret ed as modified form of military dictator ship, which the public would never sanc- ton.
 Ruler Instead of Figurehead. Dealing with the surmise on some of the foregoing points. the Morning Advertiser today said
 ''rhe king has in this national emer- gency resolved to play the part of ruler instead of being content with that of figurehead."
 Meantime. every detail of the negotia- tions for filling up the vacancies in the cabinet are submitted to the king who for the time being has transformed Bal moral into political center of the empire from which. owing to the unusual infiu- ences at work. several surprises may emanate. Whatever the results may be- they safely be attributed to large extent to the kings interest in the crises