It is unusual to find Members of the House of Commons objecting to
their speeches being reported, but apparently some of them do--when
the reporters are police constables. The HOME SECRETARY thought it
quite possible that if Members attended certain meetings the official
stenographers might think it worth while to take down their utterances
but I gathered that he was not prepared to give any guarantee on the
subject, and that Colonel WEDGWOOD and Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY must
not count too confidently on having a further road to fame opened to
them.
[Illustration: THE CORNUCOPIA, OR HORNE OF PLENTY. SIR ROBERT HORNE.]
Mr. BONAR LAW read a telegram from Lord KILMARNOCK regarding the
situation in Berlin. As it was already a day old, was admittedly based
on a _communiqué_ from _Wolff's Bureau_, "censored" by Mr. TREBITSCH
LINCOLN (late Liberal Member for Darlington), and had in the meantime
been officially contradicted by the old Government, it did not add
much to our knowledge.
Time was when it was usual to move to reduce a Vote by a hundred
pounds if you wanted to defeat the Government. But such paltry figures
are no good in these spacious days. Sir DONALD MACLEANS'S proposed
reduction in the Vote on Account for the Civil Services was the
much more mouth-filling morsel of one hundred million pounds. Mr.
CHAMBERLAIN considered it very handsome of the Opposition, on the
eve, he understood, of coming into office, thus to cut off its own
supplies. Nevertheless he declined to accept the generous offer. Our
finances would be all right if the House would back the Government by
practising economy as well as preaching it. As it was, he thought the
worst was over, for--strange and agreeable phenomenon--the floating
debt was sinking.
After this it was, perhaps, not very complimentary'of Mr. J.W. WILSON
to urge the Government to put forth their best speakers. The PRIME
MINISTER was still coy, but Sir ROBERT HORNE, in virtue of his new
office as President of the Board of Trade, stepped nimbly into the
breach, and made a speech so cheerful both in substance and delivery
as to justify the hope that in him the Government have found the HORNE
of Plenty.
_Wednesday, March 17th_.--Seventeen years ago Lord BALFOUR OF
BURLEIGH, as a hard-shell Free Trader, sacrificed office sooner than
bow the knee to the new gods of Birmingham. This afternoon he brought
in a Bill (to safeguard "key industries" and counteract "dumping")
which would have gladdened the heart of Mr. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. Some
of the other Free Trade Peers were still unrepentant. Lord BEAUCHAMP,
for example, declaring that shipping was our real "quay-industry" and
needed no protection, announced his intention of moving the rejection
of the Bill; and Lord CREWE, although one of the authors of the Paris
resolutions, on which the measure was ostensibly based, thought that
it went far beyond present necessities. The only dumps with which
Germany was likely to be associated for some time to come were
doleful, not aggressive.
The Report of the Supplementary Estimates furnished the Commons with
abundant points for criticism. In protesting against an increase in
the remuneration of the Law Officers, Mr. HOGGE revealed a hitherto
unsuspected admiration for the PRIME MINISTER, whose services, he
considered, were most inadequately rewarded with five thousand pounds
a year and no pension. If anyone deserved an increase of salary it was
he.
Mr. TYSON-WILSON had the temerity to complain that the Government were
not finding work for all the disabled ex-Service men whom they trained
in the technical schools, and laid himself open to a damaging "_tu
quoque_" from Sir ROBERT HORNE, who pointed out that this lack of
employment was largely due to the trade unions, which refused to admit
these men as "improvers."
In introducing the Naval Estimates for eighty odd millions Mr. LONG
was almost apologetic for not having made them larger. The _personnel_
has been drastically reduced, and parents are actually being offered a
premium of three hundred pounds to remove their sons from Osborne. On
the other hand promotion from the lower deck was to be encouraged, and
in future every youngster entering the Navy would metaphorically carry
a broad-pennant in his ditty-box.
_Thursday, March 18th_.--A proposal to erect a military monument on
a hill near Jerusalem was adversely criticised by Lord TREOWEN. Lord
SOUTHBOROUGH, as a recent visitor to the Holy City, thought that the
Government would be better advised to demolish some of the recent
buildings, including the ex-Kaiser's ridiculous clock-tower, which had
not even the negative merit of telling the time.
In consequence of his rather exhausting séance with the Liberal
Party the PRIME MINISTER was looking a little jaded. But he perked
up wonderfully when Mr. WILL THORNE, _à propos_ of a story that
the Russian Soviet Government had introduced martial law into the
workshops, asked whether he did not think that all able-bodied people
ought to be compelled to work. There was the old twinkle in his eyes
as he replied that it would be very interesting to know if that was
the view of the trade unions. From recent information I gather that
the bricklayers, at any rate, would not subscribe to it.
Upon the further consideration of the Navy Estimates General SEELY
urged the re-establishment of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Mr.
LONG said the Admiralty were most anxious for it. Mr. ASQUITH also
approved, but from his ten years' experience as its President entered
a _caveat_ against expecting the Committee to take upon itself
executive functions. "Had it done so," he observed, "there would have
been collisions, cross-purposes, waste of application, and in many
cases something approaching to administrative confusion." Which
things of course never occurred under his _régime_ of--shall I
say?--expectant watchfulness.
The rest of the debate was chiefly remarkable for Lady ASTOR'S bold
declaration, "The sea belongs to England, and it could not be in
better hands." Coming from a country-woman of Mr. DANIELS it was
doubly exhilarating.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Captain_. "'ERE LET'S PACK UP NOW; IT'S GETTING LATE.
BESIDES, THE KID WANTS HIS SHIRT BACK."]
* * * * *
"DIRECT ACTION" AT PUTNEY.
"When the Light Blues went out a second time R.C. Barrett, of
the winning trial eight crew, was at strike,--_Daily Paper_.
* * * * *