Parliament's Week

House of Commons: P:Replying to a question, Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain admitted that the Government had omitted the amenities and had not congratulated Field Marshal von Hindenburg upon his election to the German Presidency. "It is not the practice of His Majesty's Government to send out felicitations to the President of a foreign country," he said. Pressed by other questioners, he admitted that the custom was sometimes not followed. P:A Labor member raised the question on the propriety of Cabinet Ministers writing articles for the press. The name of Lord Birkenhead, who often augments his income in this way, was mentioned; and Premier Baldwin was reminded of the successful efforts of Messrs. Austen Chamberlain and Orms-by-Gore to induce the Labor Government to refrain from writing articles containing statements of policy. Premier Baldwin replied: "Laying down hard and fast, rules restricting the action of Ministers in this respect is a matter of considerable complexity, which seems to require more detailed consideration than I have been able to give it since receiving notice of the question." P:After a heated and lengthy debate, involving verbose statements on Scottish unemployment, the Scottish Poor Law Bill was passed. The time was 6 a. m. House of Lords: P:Moved by Lord Astor and seconded by the Duke of Atholl, a bill to permit peeresses in their own right to sit in the House was defeated by two votes--80 to 78. Lord Birkenhead, in light sarcastic vein, pointed out that the mover and seconder of the bill were married to women of distinction in the "other House," and complimented them upon a "supreme example of conjugal discipline." Lords Asquith and Cecil supported the bill, but both Cecil and the Duke of Atholl said that they believed the proper time for its adoption was when the House was reformed. Lord Birkenhead held that the Government could not fail to reform the House during the life of the present Parliament and, since the country had overruled his advice and had allowed women to sit in the Commons, he saw no logical reason for it refusing to extend the same privilege to women in the House of Lords.