BLOWS IN COMMONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18690, 22 April 1924, Page 7

BLOWS IN COMMONS.

REBUKE BY THE SPEAKER. , 1 MEMBERS EXPRESS REGRET. ' LONDON. April 10. t The fisticuffs encounter in the House of ' Commons during the discussion on the , Evictions Bill was started by Mr. L. C. Amery, formerly First Lord of the Admiralty. He accused Government of talking "sob stuff" on behalf of tenants. Mr. J. Maxton. a Glasgow Labour member, indignantly repudiated the assertion, and called Mr. Amery a "guttersnipe." Mr. Buchanan, another Glasgow Labour member, also retorted, using the word "swine." The excitement among Labour members | was renewed when The Speaker left the chair at the conclusion of the session, ignoring Mr. G. Lansbury's protest that Mr. Amery had insulted the Labour Party. Messrs. Maxton and Buchanan dashed across the floor of the House and approached Mr. Amery. Angry words were exchanged, and Mr. Amery aimed a blow at Mr. Buchanan, who retaliated. The pair then fiercely engaged in fisticuffs until separated. The excitement was dying down when Mr. Neil McLean, also a Glasgow Labour member, appeared, and fought his way through the crowd in an attempt to reach Mr. Amery, but was prevented from doing so. Mr. Amery, interviewed afterwards, rejected the suggestion that he had a good opportunity for inaugurating a Parliamentary boxing championship. "I am getting rather old for boxing, but I can still hold my own in a rough and tumble. I was a champion gymnast at Harrow, and got a half-blue at Oxford for cross-country running. The whole trouble was Mr. Buchanan's truculent attitude. When he approached angrily and saw I resented his words "swine" and "gutter-snipe," he struck out, and missed. I promptly landed a right to his jaw. and then the Labour men separated us. I consider the incident closed. It is a ' lesson that Commoners should not desi cend to vulgar abuse." , Mr. Buchanan brusquely repulsed the interviewers, and said shamefacedly, "I

dinna want tae talk tae ye." The Speaker at the opening of the session to-day mentioned the scene, and regretted the growing habit of members of using unparliamentary expressions and disorderly interjections. He felt it Els duty, he said, to adopt a sterner course in the future. He would suspend an offender for several days. "Parliament's credit," he said, "is involved, and I am determined it shall be respected." Mr. Buchanan expressed his regret. "I became irritated at a speech about the very poor people I represent," he said. Mr. Amery accepted the apology, and said that he struck a blow in the heat of the moment.