BRITISH POLITICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3413, 13 August 1919, Page 20

BRITISH POLITICS.

(By Cable.) LONDON, August 6. In the House of Commons a Bill granting £1,000,000 to the Welsh local authorities for tithe computation under the 1914 Church Disendowment Act was read a second time by 182 votes to 37. The tithe was worth £77 in 1904, but had risen, owing to war influences, to £123, and it will probably be £136 next year, -when the Act comes into operation. There was some opposition. Lord Hugh Cecil accused Mr Bonar Law and the Unionist members of betraying the Established Church. Lord Robert Cecil and other Unionists denounced disendowment as robbery. He said he had quitted the Government because the Prime Minister's pledge about the matter was unsatisfactory. Compromise -on such a subject was cowardice. Mr Bonar Law said that the Bill steered a middle course, as befitted a Coalition Government representing the mass of the nation. In the House of Commons Sir Donald Mac Lean moved the rejection of the Bill increasing, the salaries of five Ministers from £2OOO to £SOOO until Government produced a policy of all-round economies. Members of all parties denounced the increase at a time when the Government was urging the people to economise. Mr Bonar Law admitted that the Bill was unpopular, but said it was urgently needed. It was good business to pay well to get work well done. Ministers' salaries should be commensurate with their abilities and the importance of the work. He offered to postpone the' remaining stages until the autumn if the Bill was read a second time now.

The Bill was read a second time by 176 votes to 83.

In the House of Commons Sir R. S. Home promised to introduce a Bill before the recess dealing with the recommendations of the Industrial Conference.

A prominent M.P. office in the Government has been interviewed regarding Mr Speaker's Devolution Committee. He says that Imperial federation is not involved, though comparisons of the constitutions of Australia, South Africa, and Canada would be most useful. These, he says, will also accustom the British electors to the federal idea. The committee will formulate a, scheme for a devolution of power, so as to relieve the British Parliament of the pressure of local affairs. Scotland, Ireland, and Wales will,co-ordinate, and will probably increase the functions which are already locally controlled, such as education and the judicature. He hoped that the scheme, when prepared, will clear the Irish atmosphere, and induce Ireland to come into line. The same official regards the prospects of a conference of the self-governing dominions, with a view to bringing them into closer touch with Imperial affairs, as unlikely before the middle of next year, owing to the necessity of dominions' Minis ters returning to their own countries and attending to their local affairs. Mr Rose, Labour M.P. for Aberdeen North, has quitted the Labour Party until Mr Neil M'Lean, who was censured by the party forref using to stand during •the singing of the National Anthem in the House six weeks ago, resigns his post as Whip to the Labour Party. August 9. A Bill has been introduced into the House of Commons for the destruction of rats and mice. It is estimated that in England alone rats destroy 15 millions' worth of foodstuffs every year.