29 OCTOBER 1937, Page 3

* * * * Later in the day the debate

assumed a grimmer tone. Mr. Wedgwood Benn raised the question of the evacuation of refugees from Northern Spain. He was followed by Miss Rathbone, who, speaking with a passionate intensity which the House has never before heard from her, attacked both the conduct of the Admiralty and the whole policy of non-intervention. Her onslaught upon " a cowardly Govern.- ment " provoked Mr. Duff Cooper to deliver a furious reply. No doubt he was justified in defending his department with warmth and emphasis, but he would be more effective on these occasions if he did not always appear so angry.