The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes :—Lord Hartington's
attack on the Petroleum Bill in the House of Commons caused quite a breeze between Mr. Runciman and a section of ConserVatives. No one doubts Lord Hartington's sincerity, but he pitched his charges of a secret conspiracy with the big oil companies on too personal and too high a note. Mr. Runciman for his part showed the bitterest resentment, and though his feelings were justified, good-humoured scorn would probably have been more effective. Lord Hartington's supporters, notably Captain Waterhouse, were chiefly Moved by dislike of nationalization, even of the nationalization of a purely hypothetical property. This was so clearly an instance of principles becoming pedantry that they mustered only about 80 votes ; but their strictures left a nasty taste behind them, coming as they • did in some cases from members not usually associated with the known body of Conservative malcontents.
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