Tuesday saw the uncontested passage of the second reading of
the new Road Traffic Bill. Mr. Stanley has survived any feeling of impatience at the delay in pro- posing new measures to lessen accidents, and his advocacy of his BPI made a profound impression that mature thoughts will be best. Road legislation breeds cranks and there were sonic of them still in evidence, though it takes more than crankiness to explain .why Lt.-Col. Moore-Brabazon should have become so sharply dicta- torial since he left office. The Bill will no doubt meet with trouble in Committee, but meanwhile, Mr. Stanley's speech overshadowed the debate and showed that the Ministry of Transport. can no longer be considered a political backwater. The other event of the week was the announcement of a new Water Supplies Bill, necessitated by the drought. Its main principle is to sweep away restrictiOns and red-tape from the activities of existing water -undertakers, but the Minister of Health will have very wide powers in reserve. On the day following the announcement rain fell at Westminster, and the Govern- ment's- supporters strode proudly across Palace Yard with the air of the Fascist farther in Italy who, pointing to his flourishing crops, observed to 'a visitor "It is easy to see that we now have a strong Government."
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