CHALLENGE IMPENDING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18679, 8 April 1924, Page 7

CHALLENGE IMPENDING.

SITUATION IN BRITAIN. LABOUR'S EVICTIONS BILL. CRITICAL DEBATE EXPECTED OBNOXIOUS CLAUSE OUT. ' NEW ONE SUBSTITUTED. ■ By Telegraph Press Association Copyright (Received 0.35 p.m.) ! A. and N.Z. LONDON. April 6. Members of the House of Commons i anticipate a critical debate on the second j reading of the Evictions Bill on Monday ! evening. They consider that strong handj ling of the situation will be essential to ! save the Government from further reI buffs. j The Glasgow group in the House con j tinne to oppose the policy of parish ; councils paying the rents of the unem- ; ployed. j Speaking in the House, Mr. J. R. ' dynes, Deputy-Leader, settled all doubts I regarding the Government's way out of ' the impasse in which it finds itself as rei gards the Evictions Bill. He stated that i the Government proposed to submit i amendments to clause 1 in committee to | provide that before a Court makes an j order for possession in the case of nonI payment of rent it shall first be satisfied that the tenant had reasonable opporj tunity of obtaining relief from the local I Poor Law authorities. | Mr. Clynes said he was advised that ! such an amendment was within the scope ! of the present bill, and did not constitute iit a money measure. Therefore, the Gov- ; ernment proposed to take the bill as tho first business on Monday.

After some Liberal and Conservative criticism Mr. David Kirkvrood, Labour member for Dumbarton, excited Opposition laughter and cheers by a heated speech, in which he described the members of the Government as "jellyfish calling themselves Socialists." Ho said the time had come for the Government to prove its usefulness. Tenants were threatened with eviction, particularly in Scotland. Parish councils were already overburdened, and tho Government should say whether it intended to introduce a money bill to recoup them. Mr. Clynes replied that the charge on the community must, in the first place, be met through the local authorities. He said nothing to indicate that the Government was opposed to recouping them from State funds.