BRITISH POLITICS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 10 March 1909, Page 3

BRITISH POLITICS.

(Pbjm Association.— Copxmght.) NAVAL AND MILITARY ESTIMATES. A CANCELLED CONTRACT. A NAVAL Sttrtrt.l73. LONDON, Tuesday. Accounts -wore pras anted to "the .House of Commons showing the Naval surplus for the current year to be £168)343. : A discursive * debate ensued on the array estima:3s, and was adjourned. . Mr Haldane, Secrecy f< r War, 'n reply t 0 the Labourite?, .leouved tlnst the Alliance Assurance Company wr.s as fully entitled n*'to employ "in future clerks *ot belonging to the Ter^ itorials as to reject trad-3 unionists or non-abstainers. Tho res-uiting had been so satisfactory that there was no • need.f or other employers to follow the Alliance Company's example. Speaking later. Mr Haldano described Dr. Butherford's amendment to redueejthe regulars by 10,000, which several Ministerialists supported, as a proposal calculated to throw the whole ■ military arrangements into chaos. He admitted, in reply to Mr Wyndham, that the War Office was now ready with~yital statistics and a plan in the event of conscription being adopted. In the House of Commons, Mr Harcourt, the First Commissioner of Works, replying to Mr J. Ward, announced the cancellation of a big-.earting contract, because the firm had not paid the wages specified in the Contract, and had bribed two Government employees. Part of the money forfeited would be distributed among _ the employees who were defrauded of their wages. The,, statement was received with cheers. '.\.' : --'' -. . '■ v.'.'3. :