Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House, at its rising this day, do adjourn until Monday, 13th June."—[Mr. Churchill.]

I beg to move, in line 2, to leave out the words "Monday, 13th" and to insert instead thereof the words "Wednesday, 8th."

I am moving this Amendment in order to ventilate a grievance. My complaint is against the policy of the Government in allowing so little time for the discussion of the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Bill.

DEPUTY - SPEAKER:

The hon. Member's Amendment is in order, but his grievance is not, because the question of the Closure and the allotment of time on the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Bill is a decision of the House.

I only want to argue against the very limited amount of time which is allowed in Committee and which has presented some of us ever having the chance of saying a word in Committee.

Mr. DEPUTY - SPEAKER:

That is exactly what is not in order. It is not in order to move anything reflecting on the Closure, which in the ordinary sense is an act of the House, or on the allotment of time, which is equally an act of the House, and has been so affirmed by frequent rulings for the last 40 years. The hon. Member may move his Amendment if he wishes, but he cannot argue against the Closure and the allotment of time.

It is no use moving my Amendment unless there is an object.

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER:

Do I understand that the hon. Member does or does not move his Amendment?

Oh, yes, I shall move it. My complaint is in regard to the limited amount of time that is given to this Bill; but that was only my first argument. My second argument is this, that the Bill has still to go through Report stage and Third Reading, and I submit that more time should be given to it than has been decided.

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER:

The hon. Member is not in order in discussing the amount of time that has been allotted to the Bill, because that is a decision of the House. Does the hon. Member still move?

Oh, yes.

beg to second the Amendment.

In a few words I wish to give some reasons which are perhaps more in order. This House should set an example of short holidays. The holiday now proposed is too long. Hon. Members opposite will expect their workpeople to come back the day after Whit Monday and I submit that it is not a good example for the House to adjourn for this length of time. After all we only work five days a week, and in many cases hon. Members took yesterday off, being Derby Day, and will probably take the rest of the week. [An HON. MEMBER: "Speak for yourself !"] I am speaking for myself, and I am also speaking for the hon. Member for Reading (Mr. H. Williams) because we were both there yesterday, and we are here to-day.

Is it in Order for the hon. and gallant Member to make reflections on the way in which other hon. Members discharge their duties in this House?

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER:

It is by no means unusual.

It is notorious that the present Government use their supporters in batches like soldiers and sailors; some of them are deliberately allowed leave owing to the large and unwieldy and docile majority which the Government has in the House. I could give further reasons, but I do not want to rub it in, but agriculture, unemployment in the mining industry, the general trade depression, and extravagance in the public Departments, are subjects which should be considered and discussed and time should be found for their discussion. Yet the energetic Home Secretary, sometimes too energetic, proposes that this House should rise to-day and not come back until Monday week. There is much to be said for the Amendment and that is why I second it.

I wish to support the Amendment. Several hon. Members have put questions to the Minister of Labour within the last month, asking for the early production of the Bill which is to deal with unemployment insurance. This is a vital matter in at least a score of the great cities and towns of the country and we can get no satisfactory information about it. It is a matter which is causing a great deal of anxiety to hundreds and thousands of men who will he affected by the provisions of such a Measure, and an earlier assembly of the House would enable the Government to give an earlier answer as to their intentions, and they could produce a Bill with the prospect of getting it passed into law at an earlier date than that which will now be possible.

There are two reasons why I wish to support the Amendment. To-day I asked the Minister of Labour

a question with regard to unemployment insurance, and his reply was most unsatisfactory. It showed that the Ministry of Labour is not working satisfactorily. There is a very brutal Report and there are large numbers of people worried as to whether this brutal Report is to be the subject of legislation. I think the Minister should give us the earliest opportunity of knowing whether he intends to carry through the brutal policy suggested in that Report. My second reason is that I assume that the Government are now considering whether they will give their masters, the electorate, an opportunity of—

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER:

That seems hardly a reason why we should come back on Wednesday.

If I had been given a minute to complete the paragraph of my speech you would have seen, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, that there was a reason for coming back on Wednesday. It is very important that we should have an opportunity of asking the Prime Minister whether, in view of the evident dissatisfaction of the people of the country with his administration, he is going to take the voice of the country through a general election.

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER:

The hon. Member can ask that question when other topics have been disposed of.

I wish to support the Amendment, because I think it is imperative that we should have an opportunity of keeping in close touch with the Government, which the by-elections have shown is so unpopular in the country.

Seeing that we have made our protest, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.

HON. MEMBERS:

No!

Question put, "That the words 'Monday, 13th' stand part of the Question."

The House divided: Ayes, 149: Noes, 36.

Resolved, That this House, at its rising this day, do adjourn until Monday, 13th June.