A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE House of Lords took itself and the occasion seriously on Tuesday. The attendance would have made a very respectable show in their Lordships' own Chamber, which is, of course, on lend-lease to the Commons at present ; as things were, their Lord- ships, apart from packing every bench, were sitting on all sorts of places that were never meant to be sat on, and even so a good many had to stand. For the Government, George Hall, now the noble Viscount, with an air of stern austerity ill befitting him but well befitting the occasion, read (very audibly) a prepared statement declaring that the Government, profoundly disapproving of the decision of the House to meet when the Commons were in recess, considered the moment completely inopportune for a discussion of the economic situation, and would make no statement on which such a discussion could be based. That was that. It was left for Lord Salisbury to make various effective debating-points—such as that Government spokesmen seemed ready to make statements of policy everywhere but in Parliament—and to suggest that in view of the Government's attitude the motions put down by Lord Swinton and Lord Teviot might as well be withdrawn. The noble Lords concerned agreed, but an adjournment motion gives infinite scope, and before the House rose the silent Government benches had to listen to a great many well-placed thrusts from Lord Swinton, Lord Selborne and others. Was Tuesday's sitting worth while? On the whole, I think it was. It was justified as an assertion of right, and if the Government had adopted a different attitude a very useful discussion might have resulted.
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