_Monday, May 5th_.--Sir AUCKLAND GEDDES is the maid-of-all-work of the
Ministry. Deputising for the PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE he had
an opportunity of displaying an encyclopaedic knowledge which fully
justified his position as President-elect of a Canadian University.
Mr. JOYNSON-HICKS probably thought he had floored him with a poser on
"gas-scrubbing," but Sir AUCKLAND knew all about it.
He is discreet as he is erudite. An inquiry about meat-imports
elicited plenty of information about "ewe-mutton" and "wether-mutton,"
but not a word about the Manchurian and other exotic beef recently
foisted upon London consumers.
Mr. REMER is one of the most attractive and enterprising of the new
Members. But I am afraid, despite his cheery appearance, that he is
a bit of a pessimist. With Peace believed to be so near, it was
distinctly depressing to find him calling attention to the danger of
a deficiency of pit-props "in any future war," and refusing to be put
off with the usual official answer, "in view of the urgency of the
question."
There are few topics which excite more general interest in the House
than the shortage of whisky. When, in reply to a complaint by Colonel
THORNE that a firm of Scotch distillers had refused to furnish their
customers with adequate supplies, Mr. GEORGE ROBERTS remarked that
he would like to be supplied with "specific cases," he was, no doubt
unconsciously, expressing an almost universal desire.
Before the War, as we learned from Mr. ILLINGWORTH, Government offices
used to send on the average about forty thousand telegrams a month. At
the end of it the number had risen to close on a million. Much of the
increase is due, no doubt, to zeal for the rapid despatch of public
business, but some, one fears, to the natural tendency of dug-outs
(even in Whitehall) to protect themselves with wire-entanglements.
If one were to believe all that the Scottish Members said about
their own country in the debate upon the Housing (Scotland) Bill Dr.
JOHNSON'S gibes would be abundantly justified. Half the population,
according to Sir DONALD MACLEAN, are living in such over-crowded
conditions that the wonder is that any of the children survive to
man's estate, and still more that they retain sufficient energy to run
most of the British Empire. But in the circumstances a certain amount
of exaggeration may be forgiven. When it is a case of touching the
Imperial Exchequer for local advantage the Scot is no whit behind the
Irishman in "making the poor face."
_Tuesday, May 6th_.--The Scottish peers are no less impressed with the
miserable condition of their country, Lord FORTEVIOT declared that in
the Western Hebrides the housing accommodation was no better than the
caves of primitive man. Yet these cave-dwellers furnished some of
the stoutest recruits to the British army. Perhaps it was their early
experience that made them so much at home in the trenches.
Their lordships gave a Second Reading to the Solicitors' Bill,
designed to enable the Incorporated Law Society to punish as well
as try offending attorneys, instead of leaving their sentences to
be determined by a Divisional Court. The LORD CHANCELLOR and Lord
BUCKMASTER were of one mind in thinking that the measure would
be enthusiastically welcomed by the lower branch of their
profession--presumably on the principle of "Better the devil you know
than the devil you don't know."
[Illustration: _Mr. G.H. Roberts_. "I COME TO BURY FOOD CONTROL--ALSO
TO PRAISE IT."]
The issue of an official pamphlet on "The Classics in British
Education" aroused the wrath of Colonel YATE, who contemptuously asked
what "suchlike subjects" had to do with reconstruction. Before the
Minister could answer, Sir JOHN REES, fearing lest all Anglo-Indians
should be thought to hold the same cultural standard, jumped to his
feet to declare that he had read the pamphlet and found it admirable.
Of all the new Departments instituted during the War the Food Ministry
has best justified its existence. Mr. GEORGE ROBERTS'S account of its
activities was very well received, and many regrets were expressed
that he should have come to bury CAESAR as well as to praise him.
Mr. CLYNES, to whom and the late Lord RHONDDA much of the Ministry's
success was due, was particularly insistent on the need of some
permanent Government control, to counter the machinations of the
food-trusts.
The chief criticisms of the Ministry related to its milk-policy, and
these were appropriately dealt with by Mr. MCCURDY.
_Wednesday, May 7th_.--In Downing Street apparently Mesopotamia is not
regarded as a "blessed word," for when Colonel WEDGWOOD asked whether
that country, after its future status had been decided, would be taken
out of the hands of the Foreign Office Mr. CECIL HARMSWORTH fervently
replied, "I hope so!"
I wonder whether Sir DAVID BEATTY, now enjoying a well-earned holiday
on the Riviera, is as grateful as he ought to be to Commander BELLAIRS
for trying to get him back into harness. He has been promised both by
Mr. BALFOUR and Mr. LONG the reversion of Sir ROSSLYN WEMYSS' post
as First Sea Lord as soon as it is vacant. But no immediate change is
contemplated. Meantime it is pleasant to learn from Mr. LONG that the
late C.-in-C. of the Grand Fleet "has been consulted on Naval policy
since the Armistice." So he is not yet quite forgotten.
A new form of wireless telegraphy has been invented by the Post Office
officials. When really urgent messages are handed in for transmission
to Paris they despatch them by passenger train; they find this method
much quicker than cabling.
An attempt by Sir DONALD MACLEAN to draw attention to the recent
exploits of the LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND in the field of Journalism
was severely suppressed by the SPEAKER, who perhaps thinks that the
less said about them the better. It seems a pity that the Press Censor
should have been demobilised just when his famous blue pencil might
have been really useful.
Recognising that in the present temper of the House a frontal attack
upon Imperial Preference was a forlorn hope the Free Traders sought to
destroy it by an enfilading fire. But their ingenious attempt, in
the alleged interest of the consumer, to extend to China tea the same
reduction as to the product of India and Ceylon was easily defeated.
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN means to have no Chinks in his armour.
_Thursday, May 8th_.--When the Ministry of Health Bill was in the
Commons some objection was raised to the multiplicity of powers
conferred upon it. But if certain noble lords could have their way the
measure would become a veritable octopus, stretching its absorptive
tentacles over all the Departments of State. It would take over the
inspectorship of factories from the Home Office, the control of quack
medicines from the Privy Council and the relief of the poor from the
Local Government Board. Fortunately for Dr. ADDISON the Government
refused to throw these further burdens upon him. After all, DISRAELI'S
famous phrase, "_Sanitas sanitatum omnia sanitas_," must not be
translated too literally.
Members were all agog to hear what the Government might have to say
about the Peace-terms announced this morning. Mr. BOTTOMLEY challenged
the adequacy of the financial provisions, but the HOME SECRETARY
evidently felt unequal to a controversy with so great an expert in
money-matters, and requested him to wait for his "big brother," Mr.
BONAR LAW.
A proposal by Mr. SYDNEY ARNOLD to raise the limit of exemption from
income-tax from £130 to £250 was strongly backed by the Labour Party.
In resisting it the CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER pointed out that the
Labour Party had opposed indirect taxation and now they were opposing
direct taxation. In what form did they consider that working-men
should contribute to the expenses of their country? No answer to this
blunt question was forthcoming.
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