POWERS FOR GOVERNMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19321, 7 May 1926, Page 11

POWERS FOR GOVERNMENT.

NEW BILL IN COMMONS. OEALBHG WITH EMERGENCY. DRASTIC REGULATIONS. VITAL TO NATION'S LIFE. MEMBERS DESIRE PEACE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright, (Received 5.5 p.m.) A ajid N.Z.—Router. LONDON. May 5. The general strike was debated in the House of Commons to-day on the introduction by the Homo Secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks, of an Emergency Powers Bill, The interest which is being taken in the doings of Parliament was evidenced by the early arrival in the House of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. They sat together in the Royal gallery and followed the proceedings with the closest attention. In moving that approval be given to the new measure the Minister said its regulations would not be operative if they were not approved within seven days. He asked that they be approved for one month, after which the whole country hoped an extension would xiot be necessary. Tho regulations in the bill would not prevent men from striking, but they would enable the GoVe.rnment to take possession of land or buildings, and also of undertakings, for the benefit of the whole nation. Regulation No. 21 related to sedition. In its main lines in regard to incitement to mutiny and disaffection, it was an adaptation of the existing common law, with the difference that offenders could be dealt with summarily. Power Under Bill Explained. Proceeding, Sir William said regulation No. 33 gave great* power to deal with newspapers. Under it the police could enter any building in which it was suspected that there was being printed or published any document calculated to cause mutiny, sedition or disaffection among the forces or among civilians.

Furthermore the bill authorised measures to secure the supply and distribution of foodstuffs and the necessaries of life. These powers were vital at the moment to the lifo of the nation.

The Minister said he had already issued orders for the maintenance of the electric supply and the transport of motor spirit, also for the continuance of the railway services. The railway position was improving, as also were the bus services. Most of London's power stations were working admirably. Only 33 per cent, of the naval ratings and 12 per cent, of the volunteers had so far been used in these stations, five of which were not working so well. The power supply to the London Hospital had been cut off that day, but the Ministry would take steps to correct such things. Communist March Prevented. The food supply was going on well, said the Minister. The Government would do its utmost to protect thoso who were carrying out their legal avocations. He appealed to all able-bodied men to protect the community in this time of difficulty and danger. Mr. E. Thurtle. Labour member for Shoreditch : "Will you deal with article 22 which takes away the right to hold public meetings?" Sir William: "That regulation prohibits meetings which are likely to causo grave disorder. Tho police last night learned that the Communists at Deptford, with the committee of the unemployed workers and the International Class War Organisation, were holding meetings with a view to organising an immense procession to march to tho heart of London tonight. " This would have been likely to cause a breach of the peace, so I directed the police to prevent the procession. The country at the moment is steady." Time on the Side of the Law. Sir William quoted the book written in 1912 by Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald on syndicalism. In it tho leader of the Labour Party said he was against the general strike, which was not a weapon of reform but hit the poor heavily, middle-class people less heavily, and tho rich least of all; and that society would organise against it. " What I wish to emphasise," said the Minister, " is that time is oti the side of law and order, and if wo stand fast we will see a way out of our difficulties." Sir. A. Henderson, Labour member for Burnley, asked if the Home Secretary was aware that the Prime Minister, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, on Saturday evening received a definite offer from those responsible, who were able to give the very assistance to which Sir William had referred? One would have thought the Government would have said, as responsible union leaders had never ceased to say, that it was prepared to negotiate to find a formula by which the whole business could be terminated. Mr. Henderson's Gloomy Prediction. Mx. Henderson went on to say that it was no use being told they were in a state of war. The Government was not even prepared to talk in order to try to find a settlement. If that were going to continue to be the attitude of the Government, then tho position of this country in tho next few days was going to bo such as to baffle the imagination of everybody. The Labour member said he was as much alarmed at I lie position as any Conservative. He believed from his experience of the trades unions that even now the House should lend its energies toward seeing whether they could not get back to where they had been at 1 a.m. on Monday. He believed the negotiations would have then gone on if the news had not come that a certain newspaper had been interfered with. It should be the business of all sections of the House to return to that position in order to see if tho trouble could not be settled by reason and not by force. Lloyd George's Grave Warning. The Liberal leader, Mr. Lloyd George, deplored the Government's precipitancy in breaking off the negotiations. Ho said it was tho most serious and the gravest error. He shared Mr. Henderson's apprehension. Ho did not think, as a great many poople did, that this trouble was something which would pass away easily.

Mr. Lloyd George said he was convinced the' public were behind the Ministry in the maintenance of the essential services, but the Ministry must not under-rato the forces of the other side. The trades unions were Well disciplined and most ably led. There was a loyalty among the unions almost like the loyalty of the Army. It would bo a mistake for the House to asslime that the men would dribble Back to work and throw over the leaders. It was the House which would settle the matter in the end. He believed it was too early to do so at the moment, because the nation did not realise quite how things were going. What really mattered was the spirit and manner in which the proposed regulations were carried out. He appealed to the Government to exercise restraint and tact, and not to make 4,000,000 trades unionists feel that- the law had been strained against them.

Mr. Lloyd George condemned the attack on unionists published in the British Gazette. He said it was most undesirable. Appeal for Restraint Made. The Home Secretary said he accepted responsibility for the publication of the article referred to, but he did not read It. He denied that he intended to uso it as propaganda. Mr. Lloyd George : " What we want is novvs, rioE dope." He appealed to the Government to conduct the proceedings without temper and with restraint and impartiality which would reflect credit on the nation. The Home Secretary: "I have no intention of stopping meetings. My aim is to administer the regulations in a proper manner." Mr. Lloyd George: " I hope so." Press and the Labour Party. Commander J. M. Kenworthy, leader of the Radical Group, asked if the Government accepted the responsibility for statements contained in the British Gazette. The Home Secretary: " Yes. And the cost is borne by the Treasury." Mi - . Thnrtle: " Regarding the article attacking the trades unions, is it the intention of the Government to carry on propaganda of this sort ?" The Home Secretary: "I must have notice of that question." Mr. Kirkwood, Labour member for Dumbarton : "Is not this the first indication that the Government is embracing Socialism by running the press of the country ?" The Speaker: " That is a question on which the members may have their own opinion."

Sir Edward Iliffe, Conservative member for Warwick, stated on behalf of the directors of a group of newspapers with a circulation of more than 10,000,000 copies that they offered to print in each edition of their papers two columns of matter to bo supplied by the Labour Party, This would not be altered.

Dignity and an Explanation, Mr. T. P. O'Connor, Conservative member for Bedford, asked how it could be an advantage to anybody to continue the struggle. The country, he said, would hold the man who defeated the last attempts to prevent this disastrous war as being heavily, if not criminally, responsible.

"Is there a question of dignity?" said Mr. O'Connor. "Good God, what is'any man's dignity compared with this great disaster V

Mr. J. H. Thomas, M.P. for Derby, said that at 11 p.m. on Sunday he had accepted a proposal for a settlement which Mr. Baldwin himself had written down.

Mr. Baldwin intervened. He explained that the formula was not written by himself, but was reached by discussion between a permanent official acting for the Government and the Trades Union Congress. It was thought it might be submitted to the miners.

The members of the Cabinet were trying to secure an assurance from the council of the Trades Union Congress that a settlement could be arrived at on tho lines of tho report of the Coal Commission, said Mr. Baldwin. He was not clear whether the council said it was satisfied about that. While the council was seeing the miners the Cabinet learnt of the overt act to suppress the newspapers. It felt this completely changed the situation. Ending of the Negotiations.

Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald: " Tho council was only in tho next room, but was not asked if it was responsible or even if it knew about that incident. While it was busy working out a formula Mr. Baldwin's letter was received saying the whole thing was finished* " When our consternation was over," said Mr, Mac Donald, " we decided to send a deputation to the Cabinet to explain the matter. We found tho door locked and the whole place in darkness." Mr. Baldwin: "As regards the alleged lack of courtesy in ending the negotiations, let me remind Mr. Mac Donald that the negotiations were broken because of the actual beginning of a general strike. It is a pity the work of the peacemakers was killed by the action of hot-heads, but no Government could yield to a general strike. " Tho moment the strike is called off unconditionally tho Government will be prepared to resume the negotiations." Sir Alfred Mond, Conservative member for Carmarthen, appealed for a renewed conference. He said there was no reason why the Government should not prolong the subsidy for a few weeks if it saw peace ahead. Mr. V. Hartshorn, Labour member for Glamorgan, said that until that day thero had not been a really genuine atenipt to bring ahout a settlement. If this were going to bo a trial of strength it would be a mistake to imagine it would end speedily. Tlie Formula for a Settlement. On the motion for an adjournment Mr. Baldwin amplified his earlier explanations regarding the negotiations on Sunday. He said the difficulty throughout the. week had been the impossibility of securing, ei?her from the miners or from the Trades Union Congress, a full and free acceptance of the Coal Commission's report, with all it& implications and terms. The. formula given to Mr. Thomas stated: " The Prime Minister has satisfied himself as a result of his conversations with the representatives of the Trades Council that if negotiations are continued, it being understood that tho striko notice shall cease to bo operative, the representatives of the council are confident a settlement can be reached on tho lines of the report within a fortnight. " Owing to the unmoving attitude of the miners regarding assurances that should be given wo would urge the miners to authoriso us to enter into discussions on the understanding that we accept, tho report of the Commission as a basis for settlement and wo approach it with a knowledge that, it may involve some reduction in wages."

Mr. Baldwin said it had been stated in tho House that the organisers of the general strike did not intend it to bo a striko against the Government. How better cduld they show their good faith than by saying now' that it has become a strike against tho Government. Until the general strike was out of the way all progress would be blocked completely. Mr. Thomas is Conciliatory. Mr. Thomas recapitulated tho negotiations. He said that after Frklay it had ceased to be a miners' dispute. The council of the Trades Union Congress was empowered to act with full authority. Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland, Minister of Labour, and Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Minister of Health, intervened and contradicted Mr. Thomas. They said the council later said it was not empowered to make a decision on behalf of the miners. Mr. Thomas said he was not going to allow passion, temper or even " tho wonderful response of our people" to allow him to bang the door on peace. He hoped peace would come speedily. The House then adjourned. DEBATE IN LORDS. VIEWS ON THE DISASTER. PLANNED FROM BEGINNING. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 10.5 p.m.) LOIsDON. Xlay 5. In tho House of Lords the Marquis of Salisbury moved approval of the strike regulations. The Archbishop of Canterbury said every support- must be given to prevent fiien from acting as a sort of oligarchy and usurping the functions of the Government. At the same time they must work for a solution, and give an assurance that nobody was trying to lower the workers' standard of living. Lord Buckmaster said he did not think the Government could have avoided the disaster, which had been planned from the beginning. The Earl of Birkenhead said the Government .was not, and would not be, prepared to negotiate so long as a threat was held cut against constitutional government. The quarrel could only end by a recognition that there was only one government. He asked whether Lord Haldane and his colleagues approved the general strike. Lord Haldane: " I urged a continuance of the negotiations."

The Earl of Birkenhead: " I leave it there. No single ex-Labour Minister here dares to say he approves the genera] striko."

FOREIGN EXCHANGES. FRANCS COLLAPSE BADLY. BELGIAN MINISTERS RESIGN. (Eeceive'lT 10.55 p.m.) A. and N.Z.—Renter. LONDON. May 5. There was a collapse in francs on the foreign exchange market to-day., The Belgian franc opened at 153 to the pound sterling and is now at 160. The French franc, which opened at 151 to the pound, is now at 153 i,. A message from Paris says the fall of the franc is attributed to sales by British banks in order to bolster up sterling. It is also . due to the fact that the British strike is bound seriously to affect French exporters and ultimately Continental trade generally. Beporti from Brussels stato that a serious financial position has arisen in Belgium as a result of the depreciation of the franc. A supplementary estimate is being submitted to the Chamber of Deputies providing for 1,135,000,000 francs for the 1925 Budget. The 1926 Budget will also have to be revised.

A loan from the banks, on which the Government was' counting, is now impossible. The Minister of the Interior has resigned, as he disagreed with the Government's fiscal policy. The Minister of the Colonies has also decided to resign. RATES IN NEW YORK. RECORD LOW LEVELS REACHED. (Received 7.55 p.in.) E euter. NEW YORK. May 5. There was heavy selling of Belgian francs on the New York foreign exchange market to-day. The rate fell 25 points and reached the lowest level on record, namely, 29.5 to the dollar. The rate for the French franc fell 12 points to 31.1 to the dollar, also a new low' level. The collapse is attributed to the unsettling effects of the British strike. In both cases selling was apparently inspired by fears that the crisis will delay definitely the plans for extending the international stabilisation of credits in these countries. FINANCE AND COMMERCE. APPLE IMPORTERS' ANXIETY. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 9.5 p.m.) LONDON, May 5. Apple importers are perturbed by the fact that 48,C00 cases of apples which were discharged before the strike occurred are still in the sheds. At present tho fruit is not damaged, but it is likely to suffer if the weather becomes warm. In the House of Commons the Financial Secretary to the Treasury said the Government had not considered the question of closing the Stock Exchange during the strike.