NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE King's Speech is not an exciting document, and the conclusion that it heralds a General Election is, to say the least, premature. Legislation to make available " on a permanent basis but subject to appropriate Parlia- , megary safeguard " controls of various kinds similar to or identical with those already existing may or may not be • violently contentious. No one can doubt that some controls —the rationing of certain foodstuffs, for example—are neces- sary at present, and they may be necessary for some time. In last week's debate on the continuance for a further year of the Supplies and Services (Transitional Powers) Act, the principal Opposition spokesman asked no more than that in due course there should be a firm review of all outstanding orders and regulations so that there could be " pruning, _ scrapping and legislation." There is definitely to be legis- lation ; what remains to be disclosed is how much pruning and scrapping is to precede it. 'That such legislation should, in Mr. Morrison's words, define the sphere in which regulations could be made is not unreasonable. Everything, therefore, depends on the scope of the projected measure. For the rest the proposed nationalisation of the British Sugar Corporation is not in itself a revolutionary step but it is a quite unnecessary one, and to be resisted on the ground that there should be no more nationalisation of any kind till the already nationalised mdustries have justified themselves much more convincingly than they have as yet. The Speech contains nothing else but the expected—an interim instalment of leasehold reform, measures on pollution of rivers, the poaching of salmon and the like. Not, on the face of it, in spite of the legislation on controls, a pre-election Speech.
