2 JULY 1937, Page 7

There is not space to deal with the debates on

the Finance Bill, but here again we see the relationship between foreign and home affairs. The National Defence' Contribution is a tax with no other justification than to provide some part of the cost of the immense rearmament programme. Finance discussions, like most others, are thus dominated by the inter- national situation. Measures like the Factories Bill and the Marriage Bill have, it is true, got through the House of Com- mons this session, but the days seem gone for ever when the House could give its almost undivided attention to domestic affairs.