The Address in reply was moved in the House of
Lords by Lord Aberconway and seconded by Lord Ashton of Hyde. We cannot summarize Lord Lansdowne's speech, as most of his points were also made by Mr. Sonar Law in the Commons. He strongly urged the Government to undertake rural housing. After Lord Crewe had replied, the Address was agreed to. In the Commons the Address was moved by Mr. Godfrey Collins and seconded by Mr. F. McLaren. Mr. Bonar Law asked for information about events in the Near East. He was surprised that the Speech said nothing about our land forces. Surely the Government could not maintain that their condition was satisfactory. Opportunity must be given later for a complete examination of our home defences. The Sudan loan for cotton-growing was good, but production in the United Kingdom should also be developed; in particular he mentioned the beet sugar industry. Plural voting might be an anomaly, but it was indefensible to abolish it and leave greater anomalies untouched. Redistribution was essential. The education scheme, he suspected, was the result of a duel between Lord Haldane and Mr. Lloyd George. He predicted that Mr. Lloyd George would renew his land campaign for the purposes of a general election and would b.3at the Lord Chancellor in the end. One of the greatest omissions of the Speech was Constitutional Reform, to which the Government were in honour committed. The Cabinet was now a despotic oligarchy.
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