In the House of Commons on Tuesday the debate was
opened by Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, who called upon the Government to summon a conference on the coal dis- pute with "an open agenda." Mr. Lloyd George supported Mr. Ramsay MacDonald. He thought that the Govern- ment ought "to make inquiries as to the real drift of opinion" and base upon these inquiries their own terms of settlement. Mr. Churchill replied that the Government had tried again and again to bridge the gap but that they could not do so unless the materials for a bridge were supplied by the owners and the miners. All that the Government wanted was something which they could "take hold of" and use as the basis of a new situation. They had by no means shut their minds to the possibility of further action, but neither the owners nor the miners were helping them. "Give us a subsidy ! " said the one side ; "Leave us alone ! " said the other.
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