14 JULY 1928, Page 7

The Week in Parliament

AFTER many days and nights of arduous labour, Major Glyn brought a Totalisator Bill back to the floor of the House of Commons last Friday. But not the Bill we knew. It was a brief and simple little measure that obtained a second reading so long ago. This looks a much more formidable affair, with its imposing and somewhat disheartening array of clauses and sub-clauses. Paragraphs have expanded into pages, and in the circum- stances it is hardly surprising that Mr. Ramsay MacDonald should have maintained that a totally new Bill had in fact been evolved, and that it should be treated as such. Members were treated to a fair sample of the obstructionist methods from which the Standing Committee suffered so long and so bitterly, and it is now quite clear that unless the Government espouses the Bill, and forces it through by means of the Whips, it is stone dead. This course may be adopted, but one or two members of the Cabinet are known to be very lukewarm in their support of the " tote," and in any case the amount of Government business to be got through is considerable, and the time short. The proceedings " upstairs " in connexion with the Totalisator Bill have throughout been farcical, and, taken in conjunction with certain recent events in the House, induce reflexions of a rather sombre character.

The procedure of the House of Commons is ill-adapted to meet the requirements of modern democracy. Many valuable Bills founder owing to the unlimited facilities for obstruction which exist in the Standing Committees. On the other hand, the " Committee of the whole House " proves itself every day more unfitted to deal with the complicated details of first-class measures, which are frequently shoved through after wholly inadequate consideration and examination. Then what on earth is the sense of an all-night sitting ? Is it to anyone's interest or advantage that important clauses of the Finance Bill should be disposed of after midnight by a couple of hundred jaded and irritated members ? Such folly gives rise to the prevalent, and not unjustified, belief that the House has lost most of its control over legislation, and all its control over taxation and expendi- ture. And it accounts in great measure for the political apathy which has overtaken the nation, the lack of interest in the proceedings of the House of Commons, the growing contempt for Parliament and all its ways. Mr. Duff Cooper complained recently of the reduced status of Members, but the remedy lies largely in their own hands. In deciding broad issues of principle, the House of Commons is at its best—witness the Prayer Book debates. Let it confine its activities to such issues.

It is for the House of Commons as a whole to dismiss Governments, to debate policies, and to approve measures in principle ; and these are things that can and should be done at reasonable hours. The details of all proposed legislation ought properly to be considered by Committees of the House, sitting, if necessary, in the morning. And the establishment of such Committees is needed.

The Home Secretary, with that !` naiveté " which forms so unexpected and engaging a part of his character, apparently thought he could " get away " with Lord Byng's appointment to take charge of the Metropolitan Police, without opposition or serious criticism, and he seemed hurt at the attitude adopted by the Opposition on this question. But, on the face of it, the selection of a General of sixty-five requires some explanation. Doubt- less, Sir William Joynson-Hicks will be able to give it.

WATCHMAN.