5 OCTOBER 1929, Page 2

When questions were put to Mr. Thomas he chose an

unpromising line of country in putting some of the blame for unemployment upon the Gold Standard and the rise in the Bank Rate. He neither made himself clear nor convinced his audience, and in the end this subject was left for Mr. Snowden to deal with on Thurs- day. Mr. Bevin made the extraordinary assertion that the rise in the Bank Rate would increase the number of unemployed by two hundred and fifty thousand in six months. Mr. Wheatley made the scathing comment that he had heard Mr. Thomas's speech three times from the lips of Mr. Baldwin. Mr. W. J. Brown said that he -would be ashamed to face his constituents on the Government's unemployment record.