TRUCULENT SPEECH

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 15, 19 January 1933, Page 11

TRUCULENT SPEECH

RICHES AND WANT

STATE OF UNEMPLOYED

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 29th November. Mr. Lansbury (Leader of the Opposition) was in truculent mood when he spoko in the debate on the Address-in-Reply.'\ '-, • Tjhe King's Speech, he said, was unworthy of Parliament, arid quite unworthy of being put into the hands of His Majesty. He thought that a schoolboy' Parliament would have produced an infinitely better speech.' Sir John Simon used to'taunt the late Labour Government with talking of "jam yesterday, jam to-morrow, but never jam to-day." Tho King's Speech spoke of action yesterday and action to-morrow, but of no action doaling with, tho great problems confronting us at the moment. There was not a word of sympathy with the people of Ireland, who are being subjected to 'an economic ,war t "The contemptuous—l almost said tho contemptible way—m which this House treats this qucstion'is perfectly disgraceful." s He described the reforenco to unemployment as the most sinister of tho Speech. What was the. Government doing for unemployment? People talked about land ■ development. (Ironical Ministerial cheers.) . ' "Yes, you can jeer;" said Mr. Lansbury, "I will stop talking when you take action, but notbefore." (Laughter.) To say the country could not afford better treatment of the unemployed, was downright hypocrisy. "I could," he said, "take you down to a shelter where' you could see some of the finest .specimens of; lads. They will tell you they could hot stand home any longer. What ar© youygoing to do' for these people? . : RICHES AND POVERTY. "I went to the House of Lords today. ,1 say nothing against any individual, but when I looked round and saw the diamonds and tho, dresses and the well-fed men and women, and then remembered tho people I have to face every morning, the people who go to tho shelters for a little bread and a little weak tea, and the hundreds I sco going to the. Public Assistance office, I should have liked to have taken His Majesty and all that assembly to two streets' in my constituency. "I should' have liked to have shown them rooms where six or seven people are herded together. I should like to make them. understand that riches and poverty are things which como into the world together. Riches come out of poverty, and if this wealth, and the good things which mankind produces, were only distributed, there would bo no want v " The Government, : he declared, Lad nearly destroyed the old spirit of the people. "We cannot," he "Said, "do much with this House, and outside we probably cannot rouse people to revolt. A handful will make a noise, but the great bulk of them aro crushed. It is something for a National Government to be proud of that they have broken the hearts of decent men, women, and children." A LAND POLICY. Referring to Mr. Lansbury's speech later on in the debate, the Prime Minister (Mr. MaeDdonald) said: — "I am perfectly certain that, whatever the King's Speech had been, Mr. Lansbury would have seen nothing iii it. Whether there was anything in it or not, he would have followed with a speech Which was pretty old. If tho King's Speech had been vague, tho spooch in reply wou,ld have been vaguer, and in so far as it consisted of words, the speech in reply would have' been still more wordy. "For the sake of the House, I protest most strongly against Mr. Lausbury conveying to people outside tho impression tha,t the House of Commons was jeering at tho state of tho unemployed." As to what the National Government proposes to do on behalf of unemployment, the Primo Minister said:— "A council of war sits, plans, consults, and will produco its .. proposals without delay. Beyond that I'cannot say. Certainly not. No honest Goveniniont would say moro. For the first time we aro blazing a trail. "I will not go into the question of agriculture, because I leave that in the very competent hands of the Minister (Major Elliot), but I will say this, that the revival of Agriculture is essential to the plans we havo in view, (Cheers.) "Unused land, badly used land, and land which is not put to the most efficient and economic uso in the conditions of 1932 must be steadily absorbed, with the idea that we- can put a much larger percentago of our people in direct contact with the land than has boon happening during tho development of tho factory system in this country."