VOTE WON BY LABOUR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 129, 16 March 1950, Page 5

VOTE WON BY LABOUR

LIBERALS ABSTAIN MOTION ON ESTIMATES (N.Z.P. A.—Copyright) LONDON, March 15. The nine Liberals in the House of Commons last night abstained from voting in the division on the Opposition amendment dealing (with the Supplementary Estimates. The amendment was rejected by 308 votes to 289. Both the major parties voted their full strength, after allowances had been made for absence because of sickness. Among the absentees were the Colonial Secretary (Mr James Griffiths) and the Deputy-Leader of the Opposition, • (Mr Anthony Eden). Mr Eden expects to he back in the House before the end of this week. Some invalids insisted on coming to the House. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Stafford Cripps), who had a bad cold, attended. Mr F. Anderson, the 61-year-old Labour member for Whitehaven, made a special journey from the Manor House Hospital. Thirty minutes before the division, the House was far from full. At one point in the six-hour debate only 100 of the 625 members were in the Chamber. The chief Opposition speaker, Captain H. F. Crookshank,: said that last October Sir'Stafford Cripps said there would be no Supplementary Estimates unless there was a major change in Government policy. Yet, besides an underestimate in the cost of the national health service, there had been big excess spending by the Food and Supply Ministries. Chancellor’s Reply Sir Stafford Cripps said that the Health Ministry's extra estimate was largely a result of the impossibility of getting a reliable basis on which to estimate the cost of the health service. No responsible Government could suddenly, discontinue essential health services on the ground that a Supplementary Estimate was undesirable, but he believed it was necessary to call a halt to the further development of these services. The Chancellor said that the'extra money now being asked for must be regarded as the ceiling, and new developments or the extension of the existing health services could he made only out of ascertained economies in other directions. The Liberal leader (Mr Clement Davies) criticised the increased expenditure, but said the Liberals accepted the Chancellor’s explanation, with a warning for the future. The Minister of Health (Mr Aneurin Bevan), replying to the debate, criticised the cost of patent medicines, which he described as a “racket.” Many doctors prescribed them, but he hoped to secure the co-operation of the medical profession in cutting out unnecessarily expensive ones. This would reduce the cost of the State medical service.