Wairarapa Daily Times [Established 50 Years.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21st, 1925. HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 21 February 1925, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established 50 Years.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21st, 1925. HOUSE OF COMMONS.

When the jiew British Parliament met for a short session last December the business done was almost entirely formal. The Speech from the Throne outlined the Government's intended programme, and Mr Baldwin foreshadowed measures which, by assisting in the marketing of dominion products, would compensate to some extent for the rejection of the resolutions of the Imperial Conference. But most of the time was occupied with an amendment to the Address in Reply, by which the Opposition sought to condemn the Government's attitude to Russia and its vigorous handling of the Egyptian crisis. Naturally it was defeated. Inasmuch as the main cause of Labour’s reverse rn the elections in the previous month had been its ambiguous relations with Russia, and as no British Government, whatever its political complexion, could condone the murder of its representative by Egyptian malcontents, ne would have imagined that Mr Ramsay Macdonald would have chosen stronger ground for his censures. In the upshot the House adjourned with little to show for its exertions. However, the session which has just begun promises to be a very crowded one. The Government is settling down to work in earnest. Of the matters which will engage its attention, some are primarily of domestic interest. But many concern the dominions very vitally; indeed, a remarkable feature of the King's Speech last year was the number of references to them which it contained. There is to be a debate on the Geneva Protocol, although it is improbable that any final decision will be reached until the official views of the dominions are ascertained. Their unofficial views have already been freely expressed. Defence is another question that is likely to figure prominently in the deliberations of the House. The Government is understood virtually to have made up its mind to go on with the Singapore base. But the scheme is one of such magnitude that an opportunity for full discussion is certain to be allowed. The Liberals, of course, are whole-heartedly against the scheme. Labour, when in office, discontinued it for reasons of expediency, but did not commit itself irrevocably to its abandonment. If* was, according to Mr Macdonald, to be held as a weapon in reserve to entorce disarmament. But Labour has become consistently more “anti-militarist” in colour, and will, no doubt, oppose it now as a matter of principle. However, the Government’s majority makes its position quite impregnable, and the construction of the base appears to be assured. The Defenco Estimates, particularly those for the navy, may provoke some criticism. Expert opinion insists that the navy has been reduced below the margin of safety. Although last year the Labour Government, with the aid of the Conservatives, authorised the construction of five additional cruisers, this fell short of the programme which the Admiralty had declared to be imperative. The Admiralty now, it. is said, asks for a substantial increase, which Mr Winston Churchill, as custodian of the purse strings, will resist.