* * * * Reference must also be made to
a scene which took place last week when Mr. Austin Hopkinson demanded further enlighten- ment on the activities of the Swinton Committee, protesting vigorously against the setting up of a new and secret organ in the State, with powers and personnel distasteful to many members. What is the moral to be drawn from these debates and inci- dents? It would seem that, as in centuries gone by, individual and independent members are rising from the back-benches to preserve the privileges of Parliament and the public. Govern- ment and Opposition may have become one, Whips may have become interchangeable, but this will never prevent the Wedg- woods and Hopkinsons, the Harveys and Rathbones, the De la Beres and Stokes, the Maxtons and Manders, from challenging all-comers. It is vitally important that the prestige of Parlia- ment itself should not be diminished, even through the days of attack and bombardment. Perhaps the debate on the pro- gress of the war which takes place next week will bring West- minster back to the main stream of events again.
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