News of the Week
THE second-reading debate on the Trade Unions Bill in the House of Commons has unquestionably im- proved the position of the Bill. This is due to the foolish and inexcusable Labour policy of substituting personal abuse and irrelevant interruption for argument. The methods of interruption seem to have been arranged in advance, not indeed by the principal members of the Labour Party but by the back-benchers. Even so, the front Opposition bench has not been guiltless of helping with the barrage of interruption. The Speaker presided over this unparliamentary scene with exemplary patience. It must be humiliating for the more sober members of the Labour Party, who honour the traditions of Parlia- ment and who know what its name implies, to have points stretched in their favour ' because only in this way can childishness be humoured. As it was, the Speaker required only two Members to leave the House. Ministers have also kept their tempers admirably, though it was much less difficult for them than for the Speaker ; they recognized that the Labour interrupters could safely be left to injure their own cause and that it was not for supporters of the Bill to he angry about it.
