Parliament's Week The Commons

P: Astonished the Empire by passing unexpectedly through first reading Sir William Davison's often rejected bill to legalize a thing considered immoral by many of the King's subjects--the charity lottery. "Let us not forget," boomed Sir William in spirited defense of his bill, "that Queen Elizabeth herself was the patron of a lottery."

"Let us also not forget," vainly admonished R. H. Morris, M. P., "that lotteries were abolished prior to Queen Elizabeth's time because they had distracted young men from making themselves efficient in archery and had led them into idleness."

P: Hotly debated Manchuria and Shanghai, Labor Party Leader George Lansbury contending that "China must receive reparations for Japan's ghastly blunder'' while British Foreign Secretary Sir John Simon warily supported the Japanese thesis that Manchuria spontaneously revolted against China and set itself up as a separate state.

When Laborites shouted that everyone knew Japan has set up a puppet regime in Manchuria, lawyerlike Sir John softly replied, "That may be so, but nobody is entitled to say so except on the principle that one is at liberty to pronounce judgment without waiting for an investigation and in the face of the denial of one of the parties."

P: Learned that St. Gandhi's predominantly Hindu Indian National Congress had been joined in opposition to the British Raj last week by the All India Moslem Conference which passed a strong resolution at Lahore threatening "direct action" in the struggle for Indian freedom.

"His Majesty's Government will not be swayed by threats of force or sudden alarms," the House of Commons was promptly assured by Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for India. "It is the duty of this country to maintain law and order."

P: Recessed until April 5, unperturbed by either India's threats or Ireland's (see col. 3).

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