Scotland and Westminster Ministers have not too much time for
thinking while Parliament is in session; but the Secretary for Scotland, in spite of a fairly crowded recess, will, it may be hoped, find it possible now to give some consideration to the cogent observations Mr. Henderson-Stewart, the Member for South Fife, has addressed to him on the treatment of Scottish affairs at Westminster. There is nothing new about Scot- land's grievance on this score, but reiteration may in the end make some impression. The fact is that Scotland is run departmentally, and the House of Commons, apart from an occasional reference to Scottish problems, like the herring- fishery, at question-time, troubles itself little about Scottish affairs, devoting to them on an average, according to Mr. Henderson-Stewart, a total period of 16 hours a year. One of his proposals is that all the Scottish estimates should be delegated to the Scottish Grand Committee, to be probed and thrashed out by Scottish members, and that that Com- mittee should also receive statements from standing bodies like the Forestry Commission so far as their work touched Scotland. That is clearly worth considering. The Scottish Home Rule movement is making no great progress, but that does not mean that Scotland is at all reconciled to neglect by Westminster or domination by Whitehall.
* * * *
Previous page
