STRUGGLE IN COMMONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18333, 24 February 1923, Page 9

STRUGGLE IN COMMONS.

RENT INCREASE BILL. OPPOSITION BY LABOUR. THREAT FOR THE FUTURE. By Telegraph Press Association Copyright. (Received 8.15 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON, Feb. 22. The Rent Increase Bill, over which the House of Commons has joined battle, is likely to provide the great struggle of the session. The Attorney-General, Sir Douglas Hogg, in introducing the Bill, explained tha*t it legalised rent, increase notices from December. Landlords could not recover arrears not collected before .December, but arrears kept back since December 1 would be recoverable. He admitted that retrospective legislation was bad, but the public had been 'Vthrned in December of •the Government's intention to legislate. The Government wished to do the fair thing in difficult circumstances.

Sir John Simon, formerly AttorneyGeneral, urged that under the Bill tonants who had gone on strike and refused to pay »th© increased rents would be let off, while those who paid would be penalised.

A number of Labour members, particularly those representing Glasgow seats, indignantly demanded the rejection of the Bill on the ground that it altered a judicial decision. They threatened that such legislation would give a Labour Government a precedent for retrospective legislation connected with land. -

Sir Robert Homo, lately Chancellor of the Exchequer, said ho supported the Bill reluctantly as a rough-and-ready solution which was sufficiently equitable, in .skeleton. He pointed " 'out" "that new-found zeal- on the part of the Labour Party for legality could only be attributed to the fact that on this occasion legality could be combined with loot.

This evoked angry interruptions. Mr. Skelton, retorting, asked the Labour members »to behave more like a kindergarten and less like a. boar garden. The Labour Party then tried to shout Mr. Skelton down, but the Speaker's intervention closed the incident.

Mr. Patrick Hastings said the Bill furnished a dreadful precedent, and made one wonder whether he p/as in the House of Commons, or in Wonderland with Alice.

Mr. T. W. H. Inskip, Solicitor-General, replying, said there were many precedents for restrospective legislation. The Labour Party used an unfortunate mistake to start a no-rent campaign.

Amid Labour protests the closure was carried by 292 votes to 196, and the Bill read a second time.

DOMINIONS IN THE WAR

MR. BONAR LAW'S TRIBUTE.

AMERICA'S DECISIVE AID. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 7.15 p.m.) LONDON, Fob. 22.

The Prime Minister, Mr. A. Bonar Law, delivered a speech at the English-speak-ing Union's luncheon on the occasion of Washington's birthday celebrations. The feature of the speech was the wholehearted tribute to the Dominions' part in the war. He said: "If we are proud of the part played by the Old Country at Home, r what can we say of the part played by the men . who speak our language in every part of the Dominions. They all had the same record—Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans. What a part they played in the war, and how proud everyone felt and should feel to-day! I think it is no exaggeration to say that but for their assistance we should not have come through that struggle. Mr. Bonar Law added that, although the Dominions played a great part, it was America's entry, though late, that had been the decisive factor in victory for the Allies in the Great War.

| The speech was loudly applauded. ,