3 DECEMBER 1937, Page 3

The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : A

month ago, when the Population (Statistics) Bill was first made available to Members, it was generally regarded as an innocuous • measure which would probably slip through its various stages late at night with universal acquiescence. And so it might have happened, but for the self-appointed Vigilance Com- mittee which sits on the Liberal benches. Mr. Kingsley Griffith read the Bill, marked how extensive were the powers of interrogation proposed to be conferred, and put down a• motion for rejection. He was fortunate enough to enlist the powerful support of Mr. A. P. Herbert. Mutterings of dis- • content soon began to be heard among the Tory rank and file, and finally even the Labour leaders were stimulated into opposition.

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