CIVIL LIST DEBATE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19337, 29 May 1937, Page 5

CIVIL LIST DEBATE

SECOND READING PASSED LABOUR CRITICISM (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 28. By 240 votes to 112, the House of Commons gave the second reading of the Civil List Bill.

Mr. A. Greenwood (Lab., Wakefield) said that 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 freely associated in the British commonwealth of nations. He believed that the Kingship would gain in dignity by permitting it privacy that it did not now enjoy, and by destroying the barriers of splendour and display which stood between the King and the people. Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, questioned the assumption of the Labour Party that a widespread feeling existed in favour of simplification, but suggested, insofar as i" was at present, that the people would prefer the simplification to come from the own inclination and natural disposition.

Ho remarked, in conclusion: "I do not take the opposition to the motion as meaning any hostility to the idea of the 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."