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Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1942, Page 8

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DEMAND IN COMMONS

CRITICS OF THE GOVERNMENT

(By Telegraph—rress Association—CopyrigM.) (Rec. 2 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 25.

"We will never get the full .national effort until every nian and woman in Britain is conscripted and given a basic minimum wage.with a system of bonuses according to their responsibilities,'-' said Mr. Vernon Bartlett, speaking "in the House of Commons debate. "If muddles • continue, the next victims of criticism will be the civil servants. The .Government should review the extent to which the dead hand of the Treasury impedes the war effort. The jtvar is going to be won by the people I whom the ruling class of Britain has Created with dislike or contempt, andj sometimes fear. ri j

Mr. P, G. Barstow said: "Mr.- Oliver Lyttelton 'can be brought back to organise production where Lord (Beaverbrook failed, but he also will:fail. No man can solve the question of production without entirely changing the methods we are employing to* run the war. There has been no real change in the Government, but merely a change of heads. Big business is still firmly in the saddle."

Mr. A. Sloan said: "Mr. Churchill's speech has done nothing tb disperse the gloom. If anything, his (speech has deepened the feeling of despair, ahd it showed that there is the greatest incompetence at the top. /"Lives have beep needlessly thrown ajvvay. The whole strategy of war is io the hands of blunderers. ;'

Dr. E. L. Burgin said: "Going into the industrial field from the/ Plouse of Commons, one finds a sernse of frustration. There is profound dissatisfaction among the pubLic over the General Staff's handling .'of the war."

Mr. F. W. Pethick-bUawrence: "I fully sympathise with rthe Government's critics, who have /demanded the abolition of 'Blimpery' ijh all administrative fields. 'Blimpery' has refused to entertain new ideas! and has endeavoured to keep the "bottom dog in his place." ■ , (Rec. 12.40 p.m.i -. ,'

RUGBY, (February 25. The debate on the wav- situation was continued in the Houfie of Commons today, and the main hine emerged, as in yesterday's speeches, of the desire of members for a much stronger national war effort. . j Mr. Vernon Bartlett; said he believed the new Government had a great chance to revive the,'spirit of enthusiasm, to the disappearance of which almost every member who had spoken in the debate had dfrawn attention

Mr. L. Hore-BeliWEia said that the implications of total.* war had not yet been, accepted, atjd that industry should be as muc!ti a fighting army as the military scry ices. Pie Avelcomed the reconstructed:! Government, but it must stand or fa|J by the manner in which it met the needs of war.

Mr. Vyvyan Adaiais asked the House not to under-estii pate the Japanese, who in some way £ were more terrible than the Germansjj because their needs were less and tbtyvy were more indifferent to individual safety. Several members again referred to the need for a _|peedy declaration of Government pol 6:y on the Indian question.—B.O.Wfi.