* * * * The statement of Mr. Neville Chamberlain
that was the prelude to the debate on the Distressed Areas, though it did not evoke much enthusiasm at the time has had a fairly good reception, now that the Government supporters have had time to digest it. It is believed that much will depend on the calibre of the Commissioners and the extent to which a real co-operation can be established between them and their departments. The proposals were, of course, received with unmeasured scorn by the Labour opposition, but it will be interesting to see the effect of a line appeal made to them by Mr. Oliver Stanley at the end of the first day's debate. " The whole of this scheme, which is a great experiment, may succeed or it may fail," he said, " I believe that it will succeed. If it succeeds its success will not redound to the credit of an individual or to the credit of a party, but to the brighter future of thousands of our own people: In these circumstances, ought we not all to want it to succeed and to work for it to succeed ? "
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