OBSTRUCTION.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18668, 17 April 1926, Page 15

OBSTRUCTION.

SCENE IN COMMONS. LABOURITES SUSPENDED. (bi CABUs—pbjiss usocuTiojc—oorrsioHi.i dlVTB'i TCLXOBJJCe) LONDON, April 15, In the House of Commons an extraordinary situation developed at six in the morning, after an all night debate in committee on the Economy Bill, resulting in the suspension of thirteen Labourites owing to the invention of an entirely new method of obstruction. Messrs G. Lansbury, J. Wheatley, and eleven others, iu the division on the Labour motion to adjourn the debate, remained in the "Ayes" lobby joking and singing for over half an hour, delaying the whole business. The Ministers and chairman lengthily consulted, and finally called the Speaker from his bed. The Eight Hon. Neville Chamberlain, Minister of Health, amid Labour uproar, moved the suspension of the thirteen Labourites. Labour Opposition thereupon adopted the same tactics, but after another half hour's delay the Speaker ordered the tellers to report the figures, showing the motion carried by 163 votes to 76, whereupon the thirteen were ordered to withdraw and business was resumed. The House rose at 9 o'clock this morning, after sitting over 18 hours. Up to tho present it has passed four elauses of the Economy Bill in 36 hours, Parliamentary time, and there are 21 clauses besides the four schedules. The Opposition made two further attempts at obstruction in the same manner, but the Speaker announced that he would devise a procedure to deal with tfte unusual circumstances, and would consult the Prime Minister with a view to amending the standing orders. The battle will be renewed this afternoon. > Mr G. Lansbury, interviewed regarding the suspensions, alleged that Mr Chamberlain- and his colleagues adopted dictatorial, contemptuous, and insolent methods, and particularly complained of Mr Chamberlain's action in securing the closure on Mr Wheatley in the middle of a brilliant speech, in which he denounced the Economy Bill as robbery of the working-class insurance funds in order to benefit the rich. CLOSURE APPLIED, April 16th, 11 p.m.) LONDON, April 15. A recrudescence of the uproar in the House of Commons culminated in Mr J. EL Thojnas announcing his intention to move a vote of censure on the Speaker. The Government applied the closure to a motion by the Labour Party opposing the Government's proposal to transfer the surplus of £1,100,000 from the Services' Insurance Fiind to the Treasury, in which connexion the Opposition displayed much feeling. Mr Thomas heatedly accused the Government of scandalous behaviour. ( An excited discussion on points of procedure ensued', after which Mr Thomas solemnly stated that he proposed to take the necessary stepß to ask the House to express an opinion of the Speaker's partial biased conduct. Subsequently the matter was temporarily dropped.