BRITAIN NOW READY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 10

BRITAIN NOW READY

ANY EMERGENCY

SPECIAL LEGISLATION DISPOSED 0E

COMMONS RECESS

REASSEMBLY IF NECESSARY,

(British Official Wireless.)

(Received August 3, 1.20 p.m.),

RUGBY, August 2. Britain is noAv ready for any emei> gency, declared the Prime Minister in moving a resolution in the House of Commons providing for the adjournment on Friday until October 3, with provision for the earlier summoning of Parliament if it is desirable in the public interest.

He was explaining the state of Pa> liamentary business, which dictated tha choice of dates, and pointing out that by the end of the week the Housa would have passed all the emergency legislation Avhich the Government has had to bring forward in view of tha international situation. This emergency business, the Premier recalled, had interfered with the Government's ordinary legislative programme for tho session, and for that reason they were under the necessity of calling .Parliament together sooner than usual ia the autumn to give time for completing the programme, which included tha Criminal Justice Bill. ELECTION SPECULATION. The Premier went on to declare amid ironical Opposition cheers, prompted by newspaper speculation on the possibility of a General Election in November, that the date of reassembly would not only enable the programme of the present session to.be completed but would "give us an opportunity of starting the new session well before Christmas and enable us to make a good start with the legislation in tha new programme." Dealing with the customary provision for the earlier summoning of Parliament if it is desirable in the-public interest, Mr. Chamberlain said thera were two reasons which might necessitate calling the House together at aa earlier date. One would be if' the Government felt it necessary to ask fne House to pass new legislation not at present contemplated. The other would be if the Government desired to have the approval of the House of measures the Government had taken or was about to take in order to meet an unexpected situation. Mr. Chamberlain added: "We have no information at present which leads us to suppose it-will be necessary to call the House together at any particular moment in a fortnight or three weeks. If, however, after the House has adjourned it was in our mind that circumstances had arisen which brought into play either of the considerations I have mentioned, Aye would not hesitate to use our powers accordingly." Finally Mr. Chamberlain gave an assurance to Mr. Arthur Greenwood (Labour) that if the Government was contemplating any important departure from its declared policy, then it would think it right to give the House an opportunity of expressing its opinion without' waiting for the "date of the resumption op Parliament. DISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT. An amendment was moved by tha acting Leader of, the Opposition providing that the 'House should reassemble on August 21. He based his case on the uncertain international situation, mentioning the Moscow negotiations, the situation at Danzig, the Anglo-Polish financial discussions, and the position in the Far East, but he admitted that the amendment was prompted by distrust of the Government. . The Liberal Leader supported the amendment, which was also supported by Mr. Winston Churchill, Avho argued that the House of Commons counted abroad, and particularly in the dictator countries, as the most formidable expression of the British national will and the instrument of that will ia resistance to aggression. Describing the critical situation as he saw it in Europe today, Mr. Churchill asked: "Who can doubt that there is going to be a supreme trial of Avill power, if not a supreme trial of arms?" After some debate Mr. Chamberlaia replied declining to accept the amendment, and later the, resolution was carried by 245 votes to 129. Mr. Chamberlain was asked in the House today if he Avas aAvare of the hostility of the general public to a General Election while international I tension persists and whether he would consider introducing legislation to extend the duration of the present Parliament for a further two years. Mr. Chamberlain replied: "I should not be prepared to consider such a suggestion Avithout some evidence of a general desire.for postponement of the General Election beyond the statutory term. At present I see no cvi« ; dence of this kind."