AT WESTMINSTER
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL was given a great cheer on Tuesday night when he left the House with Mr. Eden to board a midnight 'plane for Bermuda. His own supporters cheered loudest, but Mr. Tom O'Brien, the former' chairman of the TUC, walked across from the Labour benches to shake the Prime Minister's hand, and most Labour Members admire the courage of a man who in his eightieth year sets, out so valiantly on a momentous journey. It was Sir Winston who made the plan for the first Bermuda con- ference sound so hopeful, and though the postponement of that meeting has been followed by changes in temperature, Members on both sides of the House believe that he can still do as much as any man, and more than most, to jerk the world out of a course that seems often to be desolate and dangerous. Sir Winston's seventy-ninth birthday had been celebrated the previous day, and the House, though beset with gra*. and controversial problems, spared a moment to wish the Prime Minister many happy returns. * * * * The House has received this Week a report on delegated legislation which quotes a list of authorities all saying that the delegation of law-making power is inevitable. The Leader of the House believes that the practice will increase: and in fact this Government in this session is to flood the mines, quarries and eating places with new regulations. The case for delegated legislation rests largely on the need to relieve Parliament of the pressure on its time. Last year, new Acts of Parliament filled one volume of 1,437 pages, but new statutory instruments filled three volumes of 3,980 pages.
To that extent, Parliament is saving its own time, but this week's business suggests that other reliefs will have to be sought. Members of the House of Commons have been forced to take a rapid glance at a snapshot album, as it were, and were expected to register distinct impressions of events in Bermuda, Buganda, Kenya, Newfoundland, Moscow, the fruit and vegetables markets, and the housing departments of local authorities. The Government, too, has been overdoing it. In the House of Lords, the Inventions and Designs (Crown Use) Bill, for which the Government asked a second reading on Tuesday, was so widely attacked for being ill-considered that Lord Woolton adjourned the debate. It was a sad day for Lord Mancroft, who had moved the second reading, but • a notable occasion for the political historian who can seldom report a lordly snub to a Conservative Government's Bill. But the Lords were in a strange mood on Tuesday. Lord Reith's explanation of how he came to hear of an attack that had been made on him—by the Lord Chancellor in the television debate—implied a degree of detachment from thedaily dust of politics that would have done credit to the Duke of Omnium. * * So far as the Commons have 'been able to settle to any one subject, they have chosen East Africa. The most accept- able news of the week was the composition of the party, drawn from both sides of the House, that is to see Kenya for itself in the New Year. The rest of the news has been disturbing. The evidence from the court martial in Kenya alleging that money was paid to troops for each member of the Mau Mau killed, and that units competed in death rolls, shocked the House and led Labour to demand an immediate enquiry. The Government has called for a transcript of the proceedings and reserves its judgment on this aspect Of the court martial. And Mr. Lyttelton's announcement that the Government had with- drawn recognition from the Kabaka of Buganda and banished him from his territory made the Opposition so angry that there were hot cries of "Resign ! Resign ! " as soon as he had finished. Two days later Government supporters found an opportunity to cheer him.
J. F. B.
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