Parliament at Work Our Parliamentary correspondent writes : " The
vote of censure debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday was a surprising affair. Originally intended by the Opposition to be an attack on the ' Means Test,' it developed into an attack by different sections of the Opposition upon each other. Mr. Lansbury started well with an argument that what is necessary is to increase -purchasing power, but he was thrown right out of his stride by a bitter taunt from Mr. Maxton that the official Labour Party when in office had started the whole business of economy, means tests, and subservience to the ' money barons,' which the present Government had continued. This gave the Prime Minister, Who did not repeat the success of his speech on Ottawa, a cue to revive the old slanging match as to whether opposition Labour leaders were cowards or National Labour Ministers traitors a year ago. The subsequent exchange of gibes between Sir Herbert Samuel and Mr. Lloyd George was better fun, and Sir Herbert Samuel had much the best of it. Mr. Lloyd George looked well physically but sounded weary intellectually. Only a person more inter- ested in something other than polities would have thought the House of Commons the proper place for the sort of speech suitable to a party meeting. When Mr. Lloyd became constructive, he served up an agriculturalised edition of the programme of 1929, containing fewer roads and more land settlement. There is some general measure of sympathy in the House for a revival of remunerative public works, in so far as such can be found ; and Mr. Todd, a Conservative member, gave expression to it in a speech which deserved a better audience. * * * *
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