The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-05
CABINET CRISIS HAS
 NOT PASSED YET
Resignation of Sir John Si- mon Officially Announced
M'KENNA MAY FOLLOW
His Position and That of Runciman Not Yet Made CIear-Premier As- quith Is In An Embarrass-
 ing Position

London, January At again becomes evident that the cabinet crisis is far from ended.
 The only definite point is that Sir John Simpson, secretary of state for home af- fairs, has resigned. He had prolonged interview with Premier Asquith yester- day The premier did his utmost to in- duce Sir John to remain in the cabinet, but without avail
 Announcement was made in the House of Commons today of the resignation of Sir John.
 The position of Reginald McKenna, chancellor of the exchequer, and Walter Runciman, president of the Board of Trade, is still undecided. They are mak- ing the acceptance of the government compulsion bill conditional upon securing a concession to their views of the eventual size of the army.
 In this matter Premier Asquith is in an barrassing position. He is being strong ly impelled from the outside not to yield this point, and it is believed that ma jority in the cabinet itself is against their views.
 Hence todays meeting of the cabinet to consider the latest draft of the com pulsion bill may result in further changes and may possibly result in the resignation of these two important ministers.
 IRISH PROBLEM
 The treatment of Ireland is another thorny problem and the conflicting state ments regarding this matter may be an indication of the struggle which will go on in the cabinet this morning. All the papers, both conscriptionists and support CTS of voluntary en1fstments, agree that Ireland will be excluded from the opera ton of the bill and that the press asso- citation statement that Ireland would be included was inaccurate.
 According to the Times, Ireland was included in the first draft of the bill, which was only intended to provide a convenient basis for discussion.
 Much light will be thrown on the strained situation by the details of the working out of the plan of the Earl of Derby, director of recruiting, in regard to which the figures will be published today in preliminary paper. The final draft of the new bill will be considered by the cabinet members at a meeting this morning at an hour before the regu- lar cabinet council.
 The Morning Post expressed the be- lief that Premier Asquith has been able to give MT. McI<enna and MT. Runci- man assurances that measures can and will be taken to insure that a sufficient number of men will be left, not only to carry on the manufacture of munitions but all trades vital to the interest of the country.
 WOULD RETAIN THEM
 The Post, although a conscriptionist advocating paper, attaches importance to the retaining of these two members ill the cabinet.
 The Daily Chronicle says that the new bill will contain clause safeguarding the navy from the danger of the bill sweeping all efficient men into the army, and estimates that when all allowances are made for unfit men and those re- quired for the manufacture of munitions and for other necessaries, the new bill will bring only 100000 into the army.
 Wednesdays sitting of Parliament will be of exceeding interest. Besides Premier Asquith's statement, Sir John Simon will make brief address, explaining his posi- tion. He has already taken formal fare well of his departmental chiefs. The names of Lewis Harcourt, first commits sioner of works. and Herbert Samuel, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, are mentioned among his possible suc- cessors at the home office.