Parliament reassembled on Thursday after its three days' holiday. Three
Bills were introduced and read a first time,—the Equalisation of Rates Bill, the Conciliation in Labour Disputes Bill, and a Bill to carry out the Behring Sea Award. No discussion took place on any of the Bills, and even the usual explanatory statements were waived till the second readings. The House then tossed wearily in the ground-swell of the general discussions raised on Supply. Mr. Field raised the eternal question of promotion from the second division of the Civil Service into the first division, and tried to tie the hands of the Government by a general motion. His attempt was, however, frustrated by a combination between the two front benches, who realise that to let the House of Commons interfere in the managemcint of the Civil Service would be to produce administrative chaos in six months. Next, the law officers' salaries were discussed, and then, quarantine and voluntary schools ; and finally the House settled down to the drains at Buckingham Palace, and the Kitchen Garden at Windsor.
