_Monday, February 24th._--The mantle of the lamented Mr. JOSEPH KING,
whose taste in _protégés_ was so remarkable, seems to have descended
upon Colonel WEDGWOOD. His request for the return to this country of
LAJPAT RAI, "the Indian patriot," aroused a storm of objection from
other hon. Members, who considered the description inapplicable to
a person deported for sedition. But it was quickly quelled by the
SPEAKER with the unanswerable assertion that "everybody calls himself
a patriot in these days."
Mr. RAPER sought an assurance that no "wrack"--which appears to be a
term of art in the timber trade--should be used in the houses to be
erected under the Government's new housing scheme. If these were not
to be "the unsubstantial fabric of a vision," he implied, the official
builders had better leave the wrack behind.
Something is at last to be done to reduce the growing plague of
Questions. Hitherto each Member has been entitled to put down eight
Questions for oral reply on any one day. But in future no one is to be
permitted to "star" more than four Questions _per diem_. Even that is
regarded by some Members as an extravagant allowance. Major HENNESSY,
I understand, thinks "three stars" enough for any man.
"The Government is not a trustee for one class, but for all," was
the leading theme of the PRIME MINISTER'S firm and tactful speech
in introducing the Coal Industry Commission Bill. He was studiously
conciliatory to the miners, but made it plain that they could not be
allowed to put a pistol at the head of the general community.
The miners appear, however, to be in the mood of the little girl who
said, "I don't want to go to bed; I want to be _in_ bed." The gist of
eloquent speeches delivered on their behalf by Mr. HARTSHORN and Mr.
RICHARDS was that the Government already possessed all the relevant
facts, and should give the desired relief at once. But they mustered
only 43 in the Division Lobby against 257 for the Second Reading.
_Tuesday, February 25th._--Their Lordships resumed their debate on
Industrial Unrest. Lord RUSSELL attributed it mainly to ignorance--on
the part of the capitalists and the newspapers, who, with few
exceptions, never gave fair play to Labour. He was supported to some
extent by His Grace of YORK, who declared that, after a perusal of the
Labour Press and the non-Labour Press, he could hardly believe they
were dealing with the same subject.
[Illustration: PERSUASIVE PURRING. MR. BRACE.]
Up to almost the eleventh hour the Committee stage of the Coal
Commission Bill in the Commons was not encouraging. The Labour
representatives moved amendment after amendment, designed either to
wreck the measure or to make the Commission a mere registration-office
to approve their own cut-and-dried plans.
Mr. RICHARDS moved to omit wages and hours from its purview, but the
House, brought up in the belief that _Hamlet_ without the _Prince of
Denmark_ is but a poor play, voted him down by 270 to 40.
[Illustration: MR. JOYNSON HICKS'S FAIR WARNING TO SIR ERIC GEDDES.]
Then came another question-begging amendment from Mr. ADAMSON,
suggesting that the Commission's inquiries into the possibilities of
reorganising the mines should be limited to the single question of
"nationalization"--the "blessed word" of Labour just now. This was
supported in a capital maiden speech by Mr. SPOOR, an ex-pitman, whose
father and son are both in the mines, and by Mr. CLYNES, who rather
unreasonably complained that the HOME SECRETARY made SHORTT speeches;
but it shared the same fate.
Not till the Bill was nearly through Committee was there any sign of
_rapprochement_. Then, in response to the persuasive purring of Mr.
BRACE, who had urged that the Commission should issue an interim
report on wages and hours by March 12th, the PRIME MINISTER declared
that, after consultation with Mr. Justice SANKEY, he was prepared
to promise that the report should be ready on March 20th. A smile,
extending almost to the extreme limits of his moustache, spread over
Mr. BRACE'S benevolent countenance. Thenceforward all was peace, and
the Third Reading was carried without a division.
_Wednesday, February 26th._--The Lords passed the Coal Industry
Commission Bill through all its stages without a pause. Then Lord
DEVONPORT expatiated on the mistakes of the Food Controllers with such
a wealth of illustration that the LORD CHANCELLOR, who is fond of
Classical "tags," was heard to murmur, _"Omnium consensu capax imperil
nisi imperasset."_
A Second Reading was given to the Re-election of Ministers Bill, on
the plea of the LORD CHANCELLOR that until it is passed several of his
Ministerial colleagues will be _nantes in gurgite vasto_--or, in other
words, all at sea.
Rumours that a new Department of Public Information was to be set up
excited much curiosity in the Commons, but only negative replies were
received. The Department, if, and when, it comes into existence, is
not to advertise the virtues of the Coalition, nor is it to publish a
newspaper of its own; though, to judge by the leaflets, circulars and
_communiqués_ issued by the existing Ministries in the course of the
week, such an organ would certainly not perish for lack of copy.
The so-called Ten Minutes' Rule was originally intended for the
introduction of comparatively unimportant Bills. This after-noon Mr.
SHORTT employed it for the purpose of explaining the provisions of
one of the most revolutionary and comprehensive measures ever brought
forward in any country. Briefly it is to put under the control of a
single Minister of Ways and Communications our railways, our canals,
our roads, and also our supply of electricity, hitherto in the hands
of hundreds of public companies and local authorities. Only on one
point did the Bill meet with opposition. I do not know whether Mr.
JOYNSON HICKS claims any connection with Hicks's Hall, which stands in
the old road-books as the starting-point of the great highway to
the North, but he became almost lyrical in his denunciation of the
proposal to put all the roads in the country in charge of a railwayman
like Sir ERIC GEDDES. They ought, in his opinion, to be under the
care of someone "born on roads" and "trained on roads"--a sort of
super-tramp, I suppose.
_Thursday, February 27th._--To an appeal for an increase in the
pensions of Crimea and Mutiny veterans, to meet the rise in the cost
of living, response was made that such an increase would be granted
in the case of those not over seventy years of age. It is not
thought that the concession will cause a heavy drain on the national
resources, few of the veterans having joined up before entering their
'teens.
As a retort, "Yah! German!" is, I am told, already considered _vieux
jeu_ by the wits of the pavement. But Ulstermen and Nationalists still
think it effective to twit one another with having been supplied
with rifles from the arsenals of the Bosch. They bandied charges and
contradictions so vigorously this afternoon that the SPEAKER had to
intervene to put an end to these "nonsensical bickerings."
The SECRETARY OP THE TREASURY scouted the suggestion that County
cricket-matches should be exempted from the entertainment tax. It
is believed that his answer was based solely upon financial
considerations, and that he must not be held to have expressed the
opinion that first-class cricket, as played by certain counties, _is_,
in point of fact, entertaining.
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"German residents in South-west Africa have forwarded the
Administrator a petition for transmission to President Wilson,
claiming permission to erect a republic union with the Republic
of Germany. The petitioners claim that they not only represent a
majority of the white inhabitants, but interpret the views of
the wishes of the majority of the majority of the ahmbahmbahmbah
natives."
_New Zealand Paper_.
We should like to know more of this remarkable tribe, which,
_inter alia_, seems to have evolved a new method of proportional
representation.
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