Parliament's Week

The Commons:

P: Mercilessly heckled the new Secretary for Colonies, intellectual Malcolm MacDonald, son of demoted James Ramsay MacDonald who now holds the sinecure Lord President of the Council. Young Mr. MacDonald was saddled last week with the thankless task of defending Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's extraordinary move of letting Premier Benito Mussolini know that His Majesty's Government would have been willing to cede some British territory to Ethiopia if that Empire could have been thus induced to make concessions to Il Duce sufficient to halt his prospective colonial war (TIME, July 8).

Not only Laborites and Liberals but also Conservative henchmen of the Prime Minister broke away to heap their wrath at popular Stanley Baldwin's latest bumble upon unpopular Ramsay MacDonald's luckless son Malcolm. Stormed Conservative M.P. Sir Arnold Wilson: "Was His Majesty's pleasure on this subject ascertained?"

Since this affront to the King, his Crown and Dignity had been indeed committed, Colonial Secretary MacDonald could only stammer, "The position in regard to His Majesty's prerogative does not hold today as it did in the fairly recent past."

P: Grilled Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare on the subject of Abyssinia and the League during a one-hour question period in which it was intimated that Great Britain's alibi for abandoning Ethiopia to the Italians may be that Ethiopia is a barbarous, slave-ridden country unworthy of League membership. Declaring that Ethiopians had made slave raids on some of Britain's African colonies, Sir William Davison cried: "Does the Foreign Minister not consider Abyssinia as not having fulfilled the expressed condition [abolition of slavery] on which it was admitted to membership of the League?"

P: Received the Government's Cotton Spinning Bill drafted to create a Spindles Board with authority to buy up and decommission -L-2,000,000 worth of Lancashire cotton spindles in the less efficient mills. These would be paid for by a 15-year levy on spindles remaining in operation--the plan roughly comparing with the AAA processing tax in the U. S. To keep Japan or other competitors from buying up decommissioned British spindles, the Bill would forbid their export.

P: Hammered out of aristocratic Air Secretary Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister the admission that British firms are now selling aircraft engines to Germany to power the battle planes with which Realmleader Hitler has so upset the British public.

"As long as exports go on," said Sir Philip icily, "it is eminently desirable that British firms should export and that British labor be employed."

This drew from Labor M.P.'s cries of "Heil Hitler!" and "Don't be so mealy-mouthed!"

Because of Germany's air rearmament the House prepared to vote an extra $25,000,000 to strengthen Britain's air arm.

P: Grilled First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell concerning newspaper charges by Welsh Has-Been David Lloyd George that His Majesty's Government could have persuaded Realmleader Hitler to write a German pledge to abolish submarines into the exchange of notes in which Britain gave Germany a blank check to violate the Treaty of Versailles (TIME, June 24). Nettled, Sir Bolton admitted that abolition of submarines had been discussed during the negotiations but insisted that the British Government had obtained from the German Government everything Realmleader Hitler was willing to concede. Stenographic records of the parley were then searched last week and Sir Bolton, after cabling Berlin, obtained Der Fuehrer's permission to tell the House that the German negotiators had expressed themselves verbally as follows: "Germany supports the British Government's desire for the complete abolition of submarines, and if it could be achieved would be prepared to scrap the submarines they might have built or were building at the time." Five days later the German Admiralty announced a naval building program for this year of two 26,000-ton battleships, two 10,000-ton cruisers, 28 submarines of which three have been launched already, and said plans were being drawn for an airplane carrier.

P: Cheered Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain, who hopes to succeed Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister after the coming election, when he made certain cut & dried fiscal observations the excuse for launching into something resembling President Roosevelt's self-congratulatory fireside talks.

The Chancellor said that he has given not "risky relief" but "stimulating relief" to Britain. "Railway traffic, bank clearings and retail trade all show a steady rise," continued Mr. Chamberlain. "The index of production in the building industry--a good barometer--has risen to the record figure of 181, taking 1930 as 100. Imports of raw materials have increased. These are all hopeful pointers." By implication Chancellor Chamberlain attributed them to his Treasury policies which he aptly summed up as "always keeping in the forefront the necessity of maintaining confidence."

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