Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: I suggest that my hon. Friend might have given this Amendment a great deal more consideration. He has not treated it with that consideration which I should have thought he would have shown. It has been shown by my hon. Friends who have brought forward the Amendment that this industry, although very small, is a promising one, and the fact that we imported such a large number of lighters during...
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: When I put my Amendment on the Paper, I thought that it would be in order, but I quite understand that it is very difficult, owing to the Title of the Bill, to move any Amendments to carry out our opinions. I therefore find myself in rather a difficulty. I am not whole-heartedly in favour of the Amendment that is being discussed at the moment. I shall vote for it for the simple reason that I...
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: I only meant to pass from the argument for a moment, because I was pointing out that that was the principal argument against the Bill on the Second Reading. But there was an equally powerful argument against it in that the more you increase the size of the electorate the more impossible it is for Members to keep in touch with their constituents. There is an argument that can be followed on...
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: I am sorry, Mr. Chairman, if I have offended against your Ruling. In confining myself entirely to the Amendment upon the Paper, I do hope that hon. Members, when they vote, will vote freely, and I ask the Home Secretary that on this particular vote, if he finds it possible, he will take the Whips off and allow the Committee to give a free vote upon the question, because I am perfectly certain...
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: 52. asked the Prime Minister if he will bring in a Bill to prohibit. German boats from dumping fish on English ports and markets?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: Will the Government bring in any Measure or put forward any proposal to protect the fishermen?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: The Home Secretary, in introducing the Bill, told the House what grounds he thought the majority of those who were likely to oppose it would take and what arguments they would use, and he said he thought the principal objection to the Bill at present was that many Members believed the women it was intended to enfranchise would be incapable of exercising the vote. I have listened to the Debate...
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: I entirely and absolutely accept the observation of my right hon. Friend, because if any member of the Government has been entirely and absolutely consistent on this question it has been the Home Secretary. I cannot say that for many of his colleagues who have both spoken and voted on many occasions against women's suffrage, and who have continually raised their voices in protest. But the...
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: On what authority is the hon. Gentleman speaking when he says that it is not necessary that the Mandate should be ratified by the House of Commons?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: 54. asked the Minister of Health whether he proposes to introduce next Session a Bill to reform the Poor Law?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: 55. asked the Minister of Health whether he will give an estimate of the saving of the taxpayers' money arising from the reduction of the housing subsidy as from the 1st October last?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: Does the hon. Gentleman consider that, while the staffs are as large as they are now, it is a good thing to continue to take in large numbers of young men?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: I beg to move, in page 12, line 9, to leave out "7d." and to insert instead thereof "6d." Until called I thought that this Amendment was out of order. I imagined that when a new Clause which I moved yesterday was negatived, that decision would negative also this Amendment to the Schedule. The object of the Amendment is to reduce by a penny the contribution in the case of young men, and, in...
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: 19. asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the negotiations between the British and Iraq Governments on the question of Iraq applying for membership of the League of Nations are now terminated; and whether he has any statement on the subject to communicate to this House?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: Will it relieve us of any part of our responsibilities?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: rose —
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: Is there any truth in the report that there is going to be a certain amount of co-operation between the cables and the beam system?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: I should like to ask the Minister one or two questions, because although the hon. Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. Greenwood) has stated that the hon. Member for Reading (Mr. H. Williams) is out of his depth in these matters, it seemed to me, from the speeches of the hon. Member for Nelson and Colne and of several other hon. Members, on both sides, that more or less the whole Committee is out...
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: I cannot tell the hon. Member whether I have done so up to my age, but I certainly had between the ages of 16 and 18, which is what we are now discussing. I presume that I retained what I learned up to that age, and we are not discussing those who are unemployed at my age.
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth: Is the course of instruction, then, to be a continuous course on general subjects? If so, why not have the proposal that has been put forward from time to time to raise the school age and discuss that? There are probably different views upon that point, but I should like to ask my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour to give us the facts, which I think the Committee should have before...
