EVICTIONS BILL

Feilding Star, Volume 2, Issue 146, 9 April 1924, Page 5

EVICTIONS BILL

THE GOVERNMENT DEEEATED. REFUSAL TO ACCEPT IT. PREMTEP'S SPEECH A FAILURE (By Electric Cable— Copyright.J (Aust. ana X.Z. Cable Association.) London, April 7. Pegarding the Government's defeat on the Evictions Hill by 221 votes to 212. the Daily Express states that no London Theatre could stage a scene to compare with the crowded and excited House of Commons after the division on the Evictions Rill. The back-bench Socialists blared like a thousand •'loud speakers," and ;t was obvious from (tie beginning that. a crash was bound to come. Mr Fringle. who saved the Government last week, spoke for half an hour, pointing out that the amended clause 1 did not instruct local authorities to pay rent for unemployed threatened with eviction, nor did it instruct County Courts to withhold eviction orders if relief wcr;- abtained. Premier Mar-Donald's speech was an entire failure. It was prosy, indefinite, and entirely non-committal. Interruptions rained down every minute, lie spun meaningless words like a spider spinning a web, whereupon the impatience of the House increased. Mr Baldwin. ex-Premier, declared Mr .Mar-Donald's explanations only made the tenebrosify of his position more profound. Mr Asquith. Leader of the LiberI ais. said only the .Johnsonian ptmse. ''inspissated gloom," could describe 1 Hie mVmbers' mental condition, including the Treasury Benches. The' Liberals were, divided into ! three camps. Forty, including Messrs Asquith and Lloyd Oeorge, j Sir Jolin Simon, Messrs VlaeNamaru : and MaePherson, Sir E. Grigg, ami Mr Masterman. did not vote. About -10 voted with and 25 against the Government. The Unionists' voted unitedly against the Government. "Cabinet is undecided a-s to what it will do. !•■•-• ■ The Litest lobby forecasts do not anticipate that the Bill will be reintroduced before Faster.