EMPIRE PARLIAMENT CONGRESS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 62, 7 December 1926, Page 11

EMPIRE PARLIAMENT CONGRESS

ENGLISH LABOUR MEMBERS’ VIEWS AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALITY Under-Secretary for Scotland in the short-lived Ramsay MacDonald Labour Government of 1923, Sir. J. Stewart, M.P. for St Rollox, Glasgow, arrived at Wellington by the R.M.S. Tahiti yesterday. Mr. Stewart .is jiow on his way Home, after visiting Australia as a member of the British section of the Empire Parliamentary Delegation at the recent congress there. He entered the House of Commons in 1922, and has been a member of the Glasgow Corporation for many years, while he is also a Magistrate of the citv. Mr. Stewart told a Dominion representative that he found Australia a wonderful country, _ with wonderful people, while the visit was an unending hard-working delight to those who had been favoured by being chosen as members of the party. The hospitality and kindness was unsurpassable, and every effort was devoted to let the party see and, understand Australia and its country, its climate, its problems, and its people. “Interchanging ideas, as we did,” added Mr. Stewart, "and educating members of the British and Dominion Parliaments as to what our Empire is, and what are its. resouices and possibilities, convinces me more than ever,, as a result of my visit to Australia, that travel is the greatest educational factor of all. I hope that these visits between the peoples of the various parts of the British Commonwealth will be developed and more frequently undertaken, as they can only . be productive of good. Knowledge g ,v ®s understanding; ignorance is not bliss. Questioned as to the future prospects of the Labour Party in England, Mr. Stewart said that at the recent municipal elections at Home,, as far as the industrial parts of Britain were concerned, the party considerably increased its vote and numbers. There was a probability of the Labour Party not onlv being in office again, but in power with a working majority. He explained that when the partv was in office, in 1923-1924, it was only as a small minority Government, not in a position to pass legislation such as it desired, and' which would have been passed had the party had a majority Government. Referring to disorderly scenes in the House of Commons, Mr. Stewart stated that disorder was not unknown in other parties. Two mem-, hers now sitting on the Government benches, the Right Hon. Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Hon. Ronald, , McNeil, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, were once involved in a memorable disturbance in the House. When Mr. Churchill was a member of the Home Rule Government, and Mr. McNeil was in opposition V> t!ie latter, picking up a book, threw it across the floor of the House at Mr. Churchill's head In fact, there had been more disorderly scenes.and fracas when the Conservatives and Liberals ruled than since the advent of the Labour Party.