On Thursday, at the meeting of the Standing Committee to
which the Housing of the Working Classes Bill was referred, Mr. Burns announced that the Government would not find the money required by the financial clauses of the Bill. As a result the Bill was at once withdrawn. It would have been a farce to proceed with it. The announcement has caused a great deal of indignation not merely among the Unionists, but also among a large body of the supporters of the Govern- ment. The Bill had in fact come to be regarded as a non-party measure. It will be curious to see whether Mr. Chiozza Money, Mr. Atherley Jones, and Mr. Jowett, the Labour member who so warmly seconded Mr. Long's protest against the destruc- tion of the Bill, will do anything beyond a verbal protest. We expect not. The "compact party majority" is a thing for which the ordinary party member feels so much awe that a grumble is the very most that can be expected from him.
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