Parliament's Week

The Lords--

P: Nodded sardonic approval as Viscount Burnham whimsically expounded the Judicial Proceedings Act to suppress publication of evidence in divorce cases (TIME, Dec. 20) as follows:

"My Lords, the penalties of this bill,* in so far as they are to be visited upon proprietors, will fall on my unhappy head alone. As the proprietor of the Daily Telegraph, I am a proprietary Crusoe stranded in a sea of syndicates. I verily believe that I am the only 'sole proprietor' of a newspaper in the whole Metropolitan area. . . . "Moreover let me say that the bill is chiefly an instrument of propaganda designed to persuade the world that Britons are moral by obscuring their immoralities . .. yet I do not object, My Lords. It is only fair that, if the peccadillos of the lowly are covered by the tattered garment of obscurity, the indiscretions of the great should be screened by the ample robe of law. For my part I honestly consider the immbralities of all classes upon a par."

Diverted, their lordships passed the bill, inserting an amendment to safeguard the rights of printers of legal pleadings.

P: Dispersed into the lobbies as Lord Weir dwelt lugubriously on unemployment, pointing out that, whereas 7.8% was the greatest unemployment figure prior to the War, no less than 13.4% or 2,500,000 are now dependent upon poor law relief.

Harkened as Lord Middleton declared: "It is midwinter madness for the Government to have cut the Army 234,500 men from its pre-War strength of 648,000."

The Commons --

P: Read with attention an open letter from Premier Baldwin to a Conservative by-election candidate in which the Government's attitude toward Communism in industry was stated with unusual vigor: "Tha plan of the Communists ... is to promote industrial unrest with the intention of driving the workers into increasing misery and discontent until, in sheer despair, they revolt. . . . This is as cruel and callous a policy as any of which I have ever heard. ... It must be stopped. We must prevent thE Communists from misusing the power of the trade unions for their wicked ends. We have no intention of destroying trade unionism or weakening it."

P: Read a scathing speech delivered by Viscount Grey of Fallodon at a banquet of Asquithian Liberals, in which their total rupture with the Lloyd George Liberal faction (TIME, Oct. 25) was reaffirmed.*

The Lords & Commons--

P: Adjourned until Feb. 8, after hearing the King's speech proroguing Parliament read by Viscount Cave, the Lord High Chancellor and Speaker of the House of Lords. For the first time in history His Majesty's speech referred to "my Ministers from the Dominions" instead of "my Ministers," thus confirming the principle laid down at the Imperial Conference (TIME, Nov. 1 et seq.) that the mother country and the Dominions are on a completely equivalent mutual status.

*"The proprietor, editor, master printer or publisher of any offending newspaper shall be liable to four months imprisonment and a fine of -L-500 [$2,500]."

*None the less the organizing committee of the Liberal Party found itself so nearly bankrupt last week, that it voted 19 to 14 to accept funds from the -L-1,000,000 (84-860,000) private fund controlled by Mr. Lloyd George. The Attorney General, Sir Douglas Hogg, commented: "Lloyd George is using money which he obtained by selling titles while in power, to buy the Liberal Party, so that he can sell its support to the Laborites."