THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23203, 29 May 1937, Page 13

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

I ■ ■ CIVIL LIST BILL DEBATE SECOND READING CARRIED (British Official Wireless) RUGBY. May 27. (Received May 28, at 5.5 p,m.) , By 240 votes to 112 the House of Commons gave the second reading to the Civil List Bill. Mr A. Greenwood (Lab.) said the British Monarchy existed by the will of the British people and with the approval of the people of the dominions, and was recognised as symbolising the fundamental unity of those peoples who were freely associated in the British Commonwealth of Nations. He believed that the kingship would gain in dignity by permitting it a privacy it did not now enjoy and by destroying the barriers of splendour and display which stood between the King and his people. Mr Neville Chamberlain questioned the Labour assumption that a widespread feeling existed in favour of simplification, but suggested insofar as it was present that the people would prefer simplification to come from the King’s own inclination and natural disposition. He remarked in conclusion: “I do not take the Opposition motion as meaning any hostility to the idea of a Monarchy, or of suggesting that if we have a Monarchy it should not be kept up with due regard. I take it that it is for the purpose of placing on record a point of view which has been put forward in very moderate terms.”