One curious result of Mr. Winston Churchill's violent irruption into
the Committee has been a very general demand in the press that the Committee should now bring its investi- gations to an end. Though we very greatly resent any attempt, either by Ministers or by the press, to put pressure on or dictate to a Parliamentary Committee, and thongh we cannot admit that the Committee has properly or fully carried out its task, we are afraid that we must confess that it is not now likely to get much more evidence of importance, unless, of course, some new facts should come out at the trial of Mr. Chesterton, which, owing, we note, to Mr. Chesterton's illness, has been postponed till the next session of the Central Criminal Court. In any case, according to an official announcement made on Thursday, the Committee have decided that the evidence on that part of the inquiry which affects Ministers shall be completed before the Whitsuntide recess, and that at the first meeting after the recess the Committee shall proceed with the special preparation of an interim report. This fixing of a hard and fast date for the end of the evidence is a little too like the Parliamentary guillotine for our taste, but we fear that is not a criticism which a House of Commons with a Liberal majority will think valid.
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