* * * * Sir Herbert Samuel was witty enough
to keep his audience, but the critic from the opposite pole—Mr. Amery—failed to do so even though he indulged in a personal attack upon Mr. Runciman. Since Mr. Runciman had just announced a pretty drastic scheme to lessen Japanese competition in Great Britain and the colonies, members were not inclined to favour Mr. Amery's view that no Conservative could trust him. In these cir- cumstances the honours of the debate went to Mr. J. H. Thomas, who, dealing with the New Zealand " offer," pointed out that it could not be an " offer " at all from a country which could not lose its tariff revenue to a country which could not allow selectively uncontrolled imports, and which would ruin its own agriculture by uncontrolled imports from all the Dominions.
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