Before the House rose last week for the short Whitsun
recess there was an excellent debate upon this very subject. I regret that this debate did not obtain the publicity that it deServed, since the debates on the two previous days had not shown the Mother of Parliaments at her most motherly or wise, and since this short debate on retail traders displayed the true virtues of that fine assembly. On the one hand you had knowledge, in the shape of members who had themselves been retail traders, and could speak from first-hand experience ; on the other hand, you had liberal- minded men who discussed the problem from the point of view of principle rather than of practice. The subject is still largely academic, since the Retail Trade Committee appointed to examine into the matter and to make recommendations has as yet only furnished in- terim reports. Yet had there been a vote on the issue I should have found it difficult to decide my own attitude. To abstain from voting always leaves one with a sense of frustration, and while the others file into the lobbies one remains upon the bench, trying hard to look righteous, but, in fact, sharing a sense of humiliation with the worm who has not the stamina to turn. Yet to vote against the Govern- ment in these disintegrating days, even if the vote be on an incidental matter, suggests lack of confidence in leaders in whom, in fact, my confidence is deep and strong. Nor have I as yet, in this matter of the small trader, been able to disentangle my thoughts from my feel- ings, or to present myself with a clear cut issue of " yes " or " no." * * * *
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