LABOUR'S DEBUT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18631, 12 February 1924, Page 7

LABOUR'S DEBUT.

m COMMONS TO-DAY. MR.. MacDONALD'S TROUBLES. tCLYDESIDE MALCONTENTS. CRITICISM OF CABINET. By Telegraph—Press Association— (Received 8.10 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. Feb. 11. The Prime Minister, Mr. Eamsay MacDonald, after spending the week-end at Chequers, will preside at a meeting of the Cabinet for a final discussion on policy before the Labour Government makes its debut in Parliament. It is expected that he will speak for at least two hours in the House of Commons on Tuesday and will cover a wide range of Home and foreign topics. Week-end speeches, including Mr. Neil Mac Lean's at Glasgow, show that Mr. Mac Donald's trouble with the " Reds in his party has not ended. Mr. J. Maxton, another Glasgow member, denounced compromises in the formation of the Cabinet. Lord Chelmsford, First Lord of the Admiralty, he declared, was a very curious figure. He had never shown any intense sympathy with the Labour movement, and was included simply 'because the Sea Lords put down their foot and refused to work under a Labour Government unless the man at the head of the Admiralty was suitable to them. " I would have said," exclaimed Mr. Maxton, " that this is mutiny, this is a strike, there is the street, and Labour would have been able to carry on wick a big enough navy." Mr. Neil Mac Lean, addressing a meeting to celebrate the Clydesido Labour M.P.'s departure for London, said that the Ministry was not truly representative of Labour. Although it was only a Government dn sufferance, if it only submitted measures so moderate that Tories and Liberals could accept them, the Labour movement would be moved to resentment.

HOUSING PROGRAMME. PLANS FOR TWENTY YEARS. MORE LABOUR AND MATERIALS. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Seed. 8.5 p.m.) LONDON. Feb. 10. The Parliamentary correspondent of the Daily Chroniole understands that the Government has arrived at a practicable housing plan. The keynote will be the co-operation of the Ministry of Health, municipal authorities, the Master Builders' Federations and the Operatives' Unions. The policy will consist of:— (1) A guaranteed and specified programme, probably for 20 years. (2) An additional supply of skilled labour by a regulated apprenticeship system. {31 An increased supply of materials by Government action, if necessary. (4) Stabilisation of prices of materials and the prevention of profiteerings \S) The fullest concentration on house building by control of luxury building and supervision of commercial building. Owing to shortage of supplier it is expected that only 120,000 houses will be completed in the first year. Thereafter 200,000 annually is expected. The Ministry is negotiating with Russia for timber. IMPERIAL RESOLUTIONS. FREE VOTE ON THURSDAY. A. and N.Z LONDON. Feb. 10. The Daily Chronicle declares that the Imperial Conference resolutions will be submitted to a free rote of the House of Commons on Thursday. NEW LORD ADVOCATE. NON-PARTY APPOINTMENT. A. and N.Z. LONDON. Feb. 10. Mr. Hugh P. Macmillan has been appointed Lord Advocate for Scotland on a non-political basis. Consequently there is no need for him to have a seat in Parliament.

Mr. Hugh Pattison Macmillan, K.C., is a Greenock man and an M.A. of Edinburgh University. He has .been examiner in law at Glasgow University and editor of the Judicial Review. During the war he was Assistant Director of Intelligence. BRITISH UNEMPLOYED. HOPE FROM FOREIGN POLICY. A. and N.Z. LONDON. Feb. 10. A significant statement was made by Mr. J. R. Clynes, Lord Privy Seal, in receiving an influential deputation from the provinces on the question of unemployment. Referring to internal palliatives which will shortly be submitted to Parliament, he declared that the Government intended to pursue in international affairs, also in relation to the Dominions, a policy aiming at greater prosperity, therefore greater purchasing power and efficiency for the people.