Parliamentary Notes
Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: The House has settled down to detailed treatment of the War Damage Com- mission Bill. This naturally involves a certain dullness in debates, because so much of the Bill is technical in character. A small group of specialists remains to apportion the fairest awards to mortgagor and mortgagee, lessor and lessee, but logic hardly fits the case. Sir Donald Somervell, the Attorney- General, is full of charm and suavity, while Sir Kingsley Wood beams on every amendment. The solicitors Mr. Milner and Mr Sillcin naturally see fine points and nice qualifications where a layman plunges into the controversy with nothing but common- sense. Sir George Courthope and Mr. Denman keep an eye on Ecclesiastical properties, Mr. Pickthorn is determined to champion University, or rather College, Estates. Then of course it is necessary to know precisely what is a Charitable Trust. Others look after small property-owners or municipal corpor- ations. I know of no other Bill that could throw more light on the strange ramifications of property-ownership in England. It is instructive for a young Member to follow the queer turnings down which the variety of amendments are liable to take him. There is both an irony and a sense of solid satisfaction that at such a suspended moment in the middle of air-raids the House of Commons can devote days of discussion to such a measure. However, Mr. Keynes measures the damage at less than one per cent. and assures us that one good building year will take up the lag.
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