LLOYD GEORGE.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1919, Page 4

LLOYD GEORGE.

THE COMMONS’ OVATION

HISTORIC AND MOVING SCENE.

(From London “ Daily Chronicle,” of July ist.)

There is a time when joy is a duty, and when it is the real test of a national Parliament that it should adequately express the joy ol the nation behind it. Far more is this the duty of an Imperial Parliament, which brings to a focus, as the centre of the vast regions that look to London, the deep emotions of multitudes of men.

Such a time came yesterday atternoon for the House of .Commons, and no one who knew that body could doubt that it would find some striking and dramatic way of showing its joy over the Peace. For drama cannot wait. It must express emotions, while still in the white heat, or not at all. Members as a whole evidently shared this forecast, for by half-past three there was a great attendance, and except for certain conspicuous gaps on the Opposition and the Labour benches, the House was very full. There was that subdued current of excitement which marks the expectation of some great occasion ; and throughout questions there was that low murmur of talk which means that the House is thinking of something else. The first explosion of pent-up feeling came when Mr Bonar Law entered shortly before the half-hour. There was a roar of cheering, and .the whole of the Coalition party — still a very imposing mass of members—sprang to their feet. But the Plouse -did not then let itself go; eyes were turned towards the swingdoors behind the Speaker; they were still awaiting the central figure. It was still a party tribute, and' the great scene was yet to come.

premier’s entrance. It came suddenly with the end of questions—at a quarter to four o’clock. Then the eyes of the, Coalition party swiftly turned to the left; there was a great shout,) and Mr Lloyd George could be seen coming along the floor down the passage between the Speaker’s chair and the Treasury Bench. He came slowly, looking very grave and responsible, an older man than when he went to Paris, greyed almost to white in the service ot his country. He sat down between Mr Bonar Law and Mr Winston Churchill, and remained there quite slient, seemingly lost in reflection, while there developed around him one of the most remarkable scenes ever witnessed in Parliament. The whole of the Coalition were

now on their legs, cheering themselves hoarse, waving their papers and pocket-handkerchiefs, shouting and yelling with ecstasy of delight. It began with the back benches, but it soon spread to the graver Front Bench, and Mr Winston Churchill was especially to the fore,

cheering like a schoolboy. The only seated man on the Government

side of the House was Mr Lloyd George ; and such is the size of the Coalition that the whole of the members seated below the central gangway, on both sidesof the House, were now standing. CRIES OF “ STAND UP !”

But over and against this sea of standing men there was an island of men partly seated and partly standing. A few Opposition members—notably Mr Will Crooks—stood at once, recognising, doubtless, that the Prime Minister was to be greeted that afternoon, not as a party leader, but as a chief of the whole nation. But neither Sir Donald Maclean nor Mr George Lambert, nor Mr Adamson stood up at first. They took the ordinary party line, quite proper on ordinary occasions, and remained seated. The rest of the House would not have this. They began shouting “Stand up! Stand up !” in no persuasive manner—pistol shots of triumphant summons. Then very slowly, one by one, most of the members on the Opposition side began to stand up—at first, Mr George Lambert, and then Sir Donald Maclean, and then most of their followers, until only a lew of the granite, stalwarts remained seated—Mr Hogge being most prominent among the Liberal sitting, like Patience on a monument, and firmly •supported in this fixitv of pose and purpose by many of the Labour members. This scene lasted several minutes, the sitters lacing the Plouse with

considerable courage, and the Coalitionists shouting louder and louder their slogan of “ Stand up !” “Stand up there, ITogge!” Mr Lloyd George looked on without moving a muscle of his face, hut eyeing the Opposition with just the least little twinkle in his eye.

NATIONAL ANTHEM SUNG. Then, just as this scene was becoming dangerously hot, some genius below the gangway struck up “ God Save the King,” and in a moment the few sitters sprang to their feet—all except one—and unity was practically restored. The House shouted out the National Anthem with full-throated heartiness, a great volume of sound rising to the glass roof, and all the galleries, with one accord—including the Press Gallery—joined in. For we had all oecome citizens together, and for the moment all party distinctions were again sub merged in common loyalty to the Throne, and to all that the Throne j means. ■

| Then at last the whole of this momentous demonstration ended as suddenly as it began. The House sat down, and Sir Donald Maclean rose to question the Premier about the day for the discussion of the Peace Treaty, closing his question with a very generous and wellphrased welcome home to Mr Lloyd George. The Prime Minister acknowledged this greeting with grave dignity; fixed Thursday as the day ; announced a Treaty Bill; welcomed a general discussion; and then in grave and weighty words referred to the Treaty and to the war which was ended—“ more sanguinary than

any other in modern times or in the w'hole history of the world”—and to the deep anxieties through which he had passed as responsible for so many causes and peoples, and the haunting fear that some mistake of his might do ‘‘our dear country” some harm. He ended on his softest note, almost a whisper, and under the spell of his enchantment the House seemed to pass for the moment away from the atmosphere of strife.

MEMBER WHO DID NOT STAND. But only for a moment. For scarcely had he sat down when Mr J. A. Seddon, from below the Government gangway fiercely pointed out that a Scottish Labour member, Mr Neil Maclean (member for the Govan Division of Glasgow), had sat while the National Anthem was being sung; and he demanded hotly that it should be recorded on the minutes of the House.

There was a roar of cheering from the niembeis all round Mr Seddon, for Mr Maclean’s action had been noted with keen anger by the whole House. But no member rose to fol • low on Mr Seddon, and a moment later the robed Speaker could be seen moving down the steps of the Chair, while the Sergeant-at-Arms calmly removed the Mace from the table. The routine of the House swept along on its normal course, prevailing over even the emotions of that hour. For the next Order on the Paper was Supply, and Dr Addison was seated at the brass box to explain the work of his new Department. ‘‘Carry on!” The onty other occasion on record on which the National Anthem was sung in the Plouse ot Commons was. in August, 1914, on the night of the declaration of war, when Mr Will Crooks gave the lead to a crowded assembly.