BRITISH PARLIAMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19994, 10 November 1927, Page 7

BRITISH PARLIAMENT

MINISTERIAL REPLIES Matter of Trade and Foreign Policy Dealt With CHINA, RUSSIA AND THE LEAGUE (By Telegraph—Per Press Assn.—Copyrirht.) (A. & N.Z.) LONDON, Nov. 8. The House of Commons autumn session opened without ceremony. Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister (President of the Board of Trade), in answer to a question, said that for the quarter ended September 30, British imports from Russia were £7,600,000, compared with £6,400,000 for the same quarter of 1926. Exports to Russia for the same periods were £1,022,000 and £1,200,000, and reexports £BOO,OOO and £2,200,000. Sir Austen Chamberlain informed a questioner that the anti-British feeling in China was diminishing. British shipping was being experimentally used in the Upper Yangtsze and merchants were returning to Ichang, Changsha, and Chiangking. The Government was considering what steps to take to deal with the revival of the anti-British boycott at Canton. The Prime Minister (Mr Stanley Baldwin) announced that the Bill to enfranchise women at the age of 21 would not be introduced before Christmas.

Mr Baldwin told a questioner that the League of Nations preparatory Commission on Disarmament would meet on November 20, and the Council of the League early in December. The latter would doubtless give effect to the Assembly’s resolutions. Though the Soviet was participting in the Disarmament Commission, he was not aware that it had made any statement as to the extent of its armaments. Sir Laming Worthington-Evans (Secretary for War) said that he understood that the Soviet had bought 50,000 tons of nitrate, presumably for munitions, also large quantities of leather, tanning materials, lead, copper, and tungsten, which could be used for either civil or military purposes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Winston Churchill) admitted that the year ended October 31 had yielded in betting duty £2,766,000, which was only half what was expected.

Mr Baldwin said that the Government, anticipating the date of the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into Indian responsible government, had appointed the following:— Sir John Simon (chairman), Lord Burnham, Lord Strathcona, and the members of the House of Commons: Messrs Cadogan, Walsh, Lane-Fox, and Atlee. Parliament would not be asked to adopt the Commission’s report without full opportunity for an expression of Indian opinion. Therefore, it was proposed to refer the report to a joint committee of both Houses. Mr Baldwin’s motion for preference for Government '•business throughout the session was carried by 269 votes to 128. Messrs Ramsay MacDonald and David Lloyd George protested, demanding opportunities to discuss the questions of unemployment, the coal position, naval disarmament, and the new Prayer Book.

Mr Baldwin undertook to try to find the opportunities desired.