LIBERAL AMENDMENT

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 118, 16 February 1928, Page 9

LIBERAL AMENDMENT

TO ADDRESS-IN-REPLY : REJECTED BY HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATE CONCLUDED The Liberal Party’s amendmeat was defeated in the House of Commons by 310 votes to 140, and the Addressdn-Reply was adopted. By TELEGBAPH.—PBES3 ASSOCIATION. Copyright. (Rec. February 15, 7.20 p.m.) London, February 14. Mr. E. A. Harney, in moving the Liberal amendment regretting that the King’s Speech contained no indication that the Government appreciated the hardships of social and' industrial life, or contemplated its amelioration by measures for the development of national resources, the provision of work for the unemployed, or the solution of the slum problem, described . the Government’s policy as one of ‘‘Trust in God and do nothing.” Everything else could wait, but young women must have the vote. The Government, instead of spending money to relieve the unemployment, had gone to the opposite extreme. Mr. Churchill last year raised the road fund to the ex : tent of twenty millions sterling, which would have given steady occupation to-130,000 men for a year. The Poor Law system was breaking down. Unemployment ought to be made a national burden. MR. LLOYD GEORGE ON TRADE SITUATION. Mr. Lloyd George accused Mr. Baldwin of not facing the facts about the trade situation, not even mentioning agriculture. If Britain's export tradehad made the same progress since the war, as it did from 1000 to 1013, the present export quantities would be 130 per cent, of the 1913 figures, but they were actually only 80 per cent. Before the war Britain ’advanced from 200 to 300' millions "sterling yearly to the Dominions,. Colonies and foreign countries, which came back in the shape of purchases of goods. The United States was now making loans and taking a corresponding share of orders. The situation was not irreparable. The need was a sort of economic general staff to investigate trade problems as a whole. Industry must be partially relieved from the crippling burden of rates. Agricultural production must be increased, because foodstuffs that could be produced at Home were now one of Britain’s largest import items. MR. CHURCHILL’S REPLY. Mr. Churchill, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, characterised Air. Lloyd George’s speech as the marshalling of admitted disquieting facts than the recommending as a remedy of the Liberal Party’s recent Yellow Book on Industry. The Government throughout its existence had contributed to the relief of local burdens to an extent never hitherto witnessed. More over, under the heads of Old Age, Widows’ and Orphans’ pensions, Education and Health Services and Housing, it b.ad provided the sum of seventeen millions sterling yearly, which was not provided when it r«ok office. Regarding the relief of rates, every, thing depended upon the state of the finances at Budget time. The Government had a series of legislative and administrative propositions prepared, but believed that it would be better to wait to operate them till they could be used as a lever, not as a sop. The Liberal Party’s amendment was defeated by 310 votes to 140, and the Address-in-Reply was adopted.—A.P.A. and “Sun.”