Isaacs and Isaac Isaacs

Plantagenet itself is not so great a name in Britain now as Isaacs. When Rufus Daniel Isaacs retired, upon receiving his present rank of Marquess of Reading (TIME, May 3, 1926), he had been Viceroy of India and Lord Chief Justice of England. He ranks today as the foremost Liberal "elder statesman." And last week the Empire was again made acutely Isaacs-conscious. In Melbourne, Australia, that vigorous, strong-faced old jurist, Sir Isaac Isaacs, is Chief Justice of the Dominion. He it was to whom Laborite Prime Minister James Henry Scullin turned last week, seeking a new governor general. Never before has Australia had an Australian governor. Her present ruler, Baron Stonehaven, came out from England with viceregal dignity.

Because Australian Laborites definitely routed Australian Nationalists at the last election (TIME, Oct. 21), Mr. Scullin now feels strongly enough, as "his majesty's prime minister in Australia," to advise George V to appoint Sir Isaac Isaacs the new governor general. If given, His Majesty must take the advice. It was a question last week only of whether Sir Isaac Isaacs would consent to accept appointment. With deliberation becoming to a Chief Justice he pondered all week, kept Mr. Scullin, Dominion, King and Empire waiting.

If Australia gets a "native" governor general, Canada is almost sure to want one, and if things go on thus what is the Empire coming to?--such was a part of the to-be-or-not-to-be? pondered by Sir Isaac Isaacs.

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