AT WESTMINSTER
MORE Members than usual were in the House last Friday, but a glance at their constituencies in Dod's Parliamentary Companion showed that comparatively few of them were interested in coast erosion, the subject under discussion in the Chamber. The truth was that several Members had hoped to raise Matters on the adjournment in the -belief that the erosion of our coasts was of small dimensions. The debate proved them wrong, and it would seem that in preserving his acres the Minister of Agri- culture has as much to fear from the sea as from the Minister of Town and Country Planning. Some of the thwarted Members crossed the road on Monday morning with their Friday speeches in their pocket and delivered them to the gathering at Church House which had been summoned by the Minister of Education to discuss Unesoo. As befitted the building, speeches were restrained and the temptation to make fun of some of the woollier of Unesco's projects was resisted, for it was plain that the British delegation had done its best to keep cultural feet on the ground.
* * * Meanwhile in the House of Commons the debate on the Budget, carried over from last week, continued and was distinguished by no fewer than five maiden speeches, four of them from Labour Members, By far the ablest was made by Mr. Houghton, who, besides being a well-known broadcaster, has an intimate knowledge of the Depart- ment of Inland Revenue, and made some practical suggestions to the Chancellor about reducing tax evasion. In congratulating him, Sir Stanley Reed remarked that if Mr. Houghton could find it consistent with his Parliamentary duties to induce the members of the Inland Revenue Union, of which he is president, to withdraw their labour each year from January to March his popularity in the House and country would be even greater.
* * * * The other three Labour Members, Mr. Williams (S. Hammer- smith), Dr. Broughton (Batley and Morley) and Mr. Robinson (N. St. Pancras) all spoke effectively, and all were in some degree critical of the Chancellor, Mr. Williams in particular going so far as to imply that the cutting of the food subsidies was un-Christian. His speech was interesting because of its uncompromisingly egalitarian flavour and the fervour with which it was delivered. That its implementation in any but the most gradual manner would lead to totalitarian methods had plainly not occurred to him.
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The maiden speech from the Conservative benches was made by Mr. Galbraith, son of Commander Galbraith, who is also a Member and was Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Scotland in the Caretaker Government. As the son rose to speak several Members noticed the father, not in his place on the Front Bench, but standing apprehensively behind the Speaker's chair—a position he maintained until the end. There are many fathers who, in school or university matches at Lord's, have been found hiding behind pillars, and there was one who regularly locked himself in a telephone booth when his son went into bat, and whatever the protests from those wishing to use the instrument, stayed there until he had made ten or was out ; there can be few who have had to undergo a similar ordeal in the House. But Mr. Galbraith need not have worried. His son was brimming with confidence, and in a most fluent speech showed that in thorough-going support of Conservative principles he conceded nothing to his father.
The most effective answer to the Chancellor's critics was given, not by Sir Stafford Cripps himself, but by Mr. Douglas Jay, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, who in the opinion of many of his sup- porters were more lucid than his leader, if less commanding. He made one point which the Chancellor should not have omitted, that if the rebates on Excise duty ate taken into consideration food subsidies this year are being increased and not reduced. The debate as a whole was on a high level, and members both of Parliament and the public have plenty to digest before they resume it after Easter.
A. M. C.
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