Mr. Churchill Seen In Most Belligerent Mood

Chronicle (Levin), 19 February 1948, Page 8

Mr. Churchill Seen In Most Belligerent Mood

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Eeceived Wednesday, 7 p.m. ■ LONDON, Feb. 17. Mr, Clnirchill was iii kis most belligerejit mood during the, opeping of the debate on the Eepresentation oi tlie Peopie -Bill in the ilouse of Oommons. ! His blulit .charges that meinb.ers of the .3rdv.ernment had broken promises ! given ln 1944, when the whole mafter of- .Parliamen.tary representafcion was considered by an all-party eonferenee under the ehairmanship of Mr. Spe&ker, ■L'bused the Grovernment b.enohes to uproar and angry r.emonstrance. . At one stage.Ministefg were jumping up and down on the front bench like biddjers a.t a wqoI sale, and Mr, Attlee, who seldom departs from his impassivity," showed greater anger than at any other time during this Parliament. The Bill seeks -to aboiish all 12 Unirersity seats and to merge the two seats- which at present represent the City of London in the neighbouring' eonstituencies of Shoreditch and Finsbury — the latter represented by the New Zealander, Mr.- J ohn Platts.-Mills. In addition, it seeks to aboiish the system of dual voting under which business men with certaiii property qualillca tions and.whose reSidences and business premises kre in two different eonstituencies. are entitled to vote in both.. "Gross Breach of Faith.' ' The Conservatives contend that at the 1944 eonferenee held under. the Oonlition Government the Labour Party, in return for a Conservative agreement to admit 7,000,000 non-rate-payers to the inunieip.al rolls, agreed to retnin the ITniversity and business vote. Mr. Churehill's eontention in the Commons debate was_ that the present measure was "a gross breach of faith, " in that it broke this agreement. Mr. Morrison and Mr. Attlee, however, flatly clenied this, elaiming that the agreements entered into in 1944. applied onlv to any. legislation introdueod during the lifetime of the Coalitioii, nnd not to any future legislation. Mr. Morrison angrlly described it as "utter nonsense" to pretend otherwise. The fiom.e -Secretary, Mr. Chuter Ede, who introdueed the Bill, said . | Parliament existed to deal with the : I business of the ordinary; citizens, and i that the Labour Party h.eld that the pfranchise should be based upon ordin-. lary oitizenship. At present, 228,000; , Pnivers;ty electors were returning 12; j members, which meant that each I constituoncy repreesnted only 19,000 ! electors, or one-third of the general j average. Mr. Ede nonoluded by assert ; ing that the Government took its stahif; , on a quotation from'Colonei Rainborow, ! one of Cromwell 's Parliamentary lead j ers, who®said in 1647 : ' ' The pdorest that is in Englahd has as much right to live as the greatest. ' ' Back-Bench Booing. At one stage during the debate, wher Mr. Churchill said the Bill represented an act of bad faith which ha.l few parallels in Parliamtntaiy history, a. chorus of angry booing broke out from ihe Labour back benci..es. Mr. Church- ' ill has provoked many hostile demoni.trations by Governmmt supporters during this Parliament, hut it is the first time they have gone to the lengtn of bouing. . , The ruffled tempers were calmed a little when two of the University mem- . bers, Sir dohn Anderson (Scottish rniversities) and Sir Arthur Salter ! (Oxford), replied to the_ Government ; arguments, but the Ministers weie 1 aroused' again when Sir Arthur Salter ' accused them of " gerrymandering. " Sir Arthur described the Bill /as a blow to the histonc 'structure of the House and at learning and education at a time when they were more than i ever needed in the life oi' the nation.

Petition From the City. Tahere was a cuJourful prelude to the introduction of the Bill when the Corporation of the City of London, exercising its .traditional right to present a petition directly to Mr. Speaker, senfe its two Sheriffs, in the scarlet robes ot their offl,ee, to deliver a petition prothsfing' against the G.pvernment 's intention of removing direct City represen tation. After th ' two Sheriffs, preceded bv the .Sergeant-at-Arms, had delivered this protest, there was another reminder of the ancient rights of the City when the Speaker interrupted Mr. Ralph Assheton, one of the two City

members, who was "moving" tnat ino petition be read, to point out ihat ho had the right to "roquest " this to be done. The City of London is now the oniy corporation in the United Kingdoni which has the right to petition Parliament directlv; all others niust. proceed th rough their M.P.'s. Dublin previouslv had a similar right, but lost it when Eire eeased to send members to fho Commons.