LABOUR’S STONEWALL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIII, Issue 9749, 14 December 1922, Page 5

LABOUR’S STONEWALL

AN ALL-NIGHT SITTING.

THE UNEMPLOYED PROBLEM.

GOVERNMENT’S STRONG POSITION

(Ter Press Association/ Copyright.) (Received This Day, 9.25 a.m.) LONDON, December 13. The Labourites, with a view to compelling tlie Government to give greater consideration to the unemployed problem, have declared their intention to keep the House in continuous session until Friday. They began by a searching attack on the Supplementary Estimates. The party divided itself into relays, speaker after- speaker devoting hours to irrelevancies, speaking, with mock solemn- i ity on such questions as the Irish vice-regal housemaids’ wages. The Chairman of Committees ordered Messrs Wheatley and Kirkwood to be seated, on the ground of irrelevancies. Their places were taken by other obstructionists. The guillotine was applied frequently. At one o’clock [ the Labourites, tired of , the game, moved the adjournment, the Government successfully resisting the motion amid ironical Government cheers. At 4.30 a.m. the unemployed vote of more than £1,000,000 came up. Labourites bitterly protested against proceeding at such a late hour. Mr Hogge, in moving a reduction, suggested that distress committees should be established in towns to provide work. Messrs Lanesbury and others denounced the Government, proposals as inadequate. The closure was carried and the vote adopted,, many Labourites refusing to vote. Ignoring further protests-, Mr Baldwin at seven o’clock introduced the Consolidated Fund Bill, which was immediately put through its first reading and the House rose;.