On Monday the Home Secretary presented the new Franchise Bill.
The effect of it is reckoned to be that on the next Register will be twelve and a quarter million men and fourteen and a half million women. Five and a quarter million women of various ages will be newly enfranchised. A new dictum will be needed to replace the old one, "We must educate our masters." The Secretary of State for Air then introduced his estimates which are increased by £700,000 only,- although for the • first time the cost of the Middle Eastern force, amounting . to E2,000,000, is included. Sir Samuel Hoare told the House of the experiments in air-ships and flying-boats, and of the intention to increase the Force by the equivalent of four squadrons, and in civil aviation to start a weekly mail service to India, subject to agreements with the Governments of India and Persia. That he steers a middle course was proved by the criticisms that his Ministry was not doing enough in comparison with other countries and that it was doing too much to be consistent with our professed devotion to limitation of • armaments.
Previous page
