The Government introduced on Friday week an Emergency Powers Bill
"to make exceptional provision for the protection of the community in cases of emergency." The Bill was read a second time on Monday by 257 votes to 65. Mr. Asquith and several of the Labour members contended that the Bill was introduced at an inopportune moment ; Mr. Glynes sug- gested that it would be taken as a challenge by the extremists in the Trade Union Conference called for Wednesday. Lord Robert Cecil, while admitting that the Bill was desirable, thought that it might be postponed for a week. The Prime Sfmister in an emphatic speech asked the House to consider the possibilities. Suppose that the railwaymen's leaders carried out their threat to strike, the Government would have to act at once so that the strikers' families and the rest of the community might be fed. Were tho " Triple Alliance " to plan an attaok on the nation, while the Government were not to prepare to meet that attack ?
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