21 FEBRUARY 1931, Page 2

When Mr. Lloyd George's turn came he let himself go.

It is some time since he has said so many reckless things with so much gaiety. He begged Mr. Snowden not to be too frightened of the City of London, which, since the War, had always been wrong. It had been wrong in advising deflation, wrong about the American debt, wrong about the return to the Gold Standard, and wrong again in deprecating a loan for development. The interests of industry and the interests of the " money barons " were opposed. The City was permanently biased against a progressive Government. Even when he and Mr. Asquith were conducting finance in a manner that was conventionally " sound " they were received in the City " with the frigid silence of a row of penguins." The City of God must not stay unbuilt because the site was occupied by the City of London. * * * *