Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : The Bud,,Tet debates have
been as dead as mutton ever since Mr. Chamberlain made his opening speech. The House of Commons. having accepted the .general principles of the Budget with hardly a murmur is not likely to quarrel about its details. This fact is, at first sight, surprising, because before the Budget the House was full of champions of expansion, and yet all, during the debate, with the exception of Mr. Amery and Mr. Stourton were found to have been deflated. ,The most general explanation given is that it would really be unkind to criticize a Chancellor who has come up to the pitch of suspending the Sinking Fund and raiding a £10,000,000 reserve. Those less easily satisfied remark that it is, on the whole, best to mark time until matters are settled with America. We should, they say, sacrifice a . strong playing card if we reduced taxation substantiallY before coming to a debt and tariff agreement. But when all is said and done, it seems rather a reflection on the present House of Commons that the only point in the Budget to arouse vivid interest is the proposal to tax Co-operative Societies. That proposal has not yet taken shape, and many wonder whether it ever will, now that agreement with the Societies has proved to be impossible.
* * * *
Previous page
