THE Scottish housing debate last week provided the first touch
of real drama this session. Sir John Gilmour propounded the Government's scheme in lucid unequivocal terms. Such methods, alas ! are , not for Mr. Ramsay MacDonald these days. , But although one does not expect him to be lucid or unequivocal, surely it is unnecessary for him to emit such unmistakable hot air as he did on this occasion. He faced in so many directions simultaneously that his speech became abso- lutely meaningless (an impression confirmed by sub- sequent reading) and succeeded_ only in inducing mental dizziness in members on both sides of the House. However, it must be conceded that the task of the leader of the Opposition in reconciling the amazingly divergent opinions of those who sit behind him is no easy one, and that he manages to do it with a considerable amount of success. The Clyde men at any rate felt themselves in a Position to say what they actually thought, and did so with gusto, to the entertainment of the 'House and, I should imagine, of Lord Weir, who, sitting in the gallery, had as much' mud slung at him as the Chair would tolerate. .
Mr. Kirkwood, who in the _art of personal abuse is sOmething of a master, surpassed anything in this line that he has yet achieved. Declaring that " this is the chance of my life time and I am going to make:the most of it," he proceeded to do so with a flow of language and a Wealth of epithet and gesture (mainly directed at the gallery)which commanded respectful admiration if not envy.
The dianiatie moment came when Mr. R.osslyn Mitchell rose to defend the Government, the steel house; and Lord Weir; with a sustained' elocitienCel and "paisiOn that fairly electrified" the House. Mr. Mitchell has in the past been at .cOnsiderable pains to identify hiMielf in the eloSeat poSSible manner with the Clyde group. This speech put an end to that association, for although he, will not be required to leave the Labour Party, the Clyde men made it perfectly clear that they will never forgive him. Mr. Mitchell displayed courage in a high degree, and great forensic talent. Judged by the highest standards, as it deserves to be, the speech contained two faults. The " emotion " was a little bit overdone at the end. And on one occasion, Mr. Mitchell allowed some slighting remark hurled at . him by Mr. Buchanan from behind to throw him* off his balance, to goad him into raising a Unionist cheer at the expense of the Labour Party as such. Yet the House was deeply impressed. Only Mr. Maxton could have saved the faces of those who opposed the Government. He did so by means of oratory rather than argument—he is the greatest natural orator in the House—and after that the excitement died down and the vote went through without. a division.
The rest of the week has been devoted to supplementary estimates and private members' motions, the tedium relieved only by an occasional quip from the fertile and humorous Financial Secretary, Mr. Ronald McNeill.
The anxieties of Unionist members are confined to the indiscretions of the Home Secretary (whose speeches in the country often render one's morning paper a pain rather than a pleasure) and the frigid reception of the agricultural proposals by the farmers, who continue to demand Protection, with a happy disregard of such irrelevant inconveniences as pledges. In justice to the farmers it must be admitted that the schemes adumbrated are at best palliatives, and that no attempt is made to solve the only problem that matters—that of prices.
The prices at present obtaining in this country for all agricultural produce except poultry and pigs are not • such as to make farming an economic business. That is the fact, let the Government dodge it as it will. And _until that fact is assimilated and tackled, all else (in. eluding " the Land and the Nation ") is vain.
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