Mr Ernest Bennett: I beg to give notice, that, this day four weeks, I shall call attention to the Parliamentary representation of our Universities, and move a Resolution.
Mr Ernest Bennett: 44. asked the Secretary of State for War what expenditure has been incurred through the transport and employment of troops in connection with the recent riots in Palestine?
Mr Ernest Bennett: 32. asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies the expenditure involved in the recruiting and transport of additional British police to Palestine?
Mr Ernest Bennett: 24. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the suspension of the liquidation of ex-enemy property as from 31st August last applies to the property of Austrian as well as German nationals?
Mr Ernest Bennett: I will ask the attention of the House for a very few minutes, because there will be ample opportunities later for discussing the vexed questions of Egypt in general and the Treaty in particular. I would like to call attention to the emphasis which the last speaker has put upon the amount of illiteracy amongst the Egyptian people. That illiteracy, to some extent, reflects upon the boasted...
Mr Ernest Bennett: Yes, it was a real honour, and I have kept in touch with friends in Egypt of various positions and views. Educated and thoughtful people in Egypt are now looking forward, after what has been a foreign domination for nearly half a century, an unacceptable domination, to real independence, not a sham independence, through the sagacity and courage of a Labour Government in England. At a moment...
Mr Ernest Bennett: After the reassuring words of the Home Secretary, I shall have no scruple in voting for the Second Reading of the Bill, because those reassuring words mean that, if the Bill comes back to the House from Committee, the objectionable features alluded to by the hon. Member for Oxford University (Sir C. Oman) will be excised. I wish that the author of the Bill would accept the suggested Amendment...
Mr Ernest Bennett: I am praising the hon. Member, not them. [Interruption.] It is a fact in all seriousness that there are to-day millions of our fellow-citizens who are guided in life, comforted in trouble, and cheered in the hour of death by Christianity. These things are true. You are at perfect liberty to question the validity of the facts on which people base their faith. It is open to us all, from Bishop...
Mr Ernest Bennett: Is it not a fact that in 1920 Mr. Jabotinsky was liberated from gaol after serving six weeks of his 15 years' sentence, and was deported on the distinct understanding that he was not to return to Palestine?
Mr Ernest Bennett: With all due respect to the modified pessimism of the hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Mr. W. B. Taylor) I welcome the Bill, and I should like to join in the congratulations to the hon. Member who moved it on his reasoned statement. I congratulate him also on another matter; that the evolution of political opinion should have produced a Bill of this kind from the Conservative benches. I...
Mr Ernest Bennett: The Bill says "abate or destroy." One knows the difficulty of measures for keeping down rabbits in a climate like ours. You never know where you are. I remember entering upon a crusade of rabbit destruction a year ago. What were the conditions then? We had three weeks of incessant frost and it was impossible to put a spade into the ground. Then there were deluges of rain. The Bill must...
Mr Ernest Bennett: Bring rooks and wood pigeons into this Bill if you wish. Who could make anything out of rabbits killed in April, May or June? I shot seven of them last Saturday and I need hardly add that I am not going to eat any of them. The Bill refers to "any person." Is tie county council to send one person or more than one person? Does "any person" mean one person accompanied by other persons?
Mr Ernest Bennett: One or more?
Mr Ernest Bennett: Even if it be one person, are the promotors of the Bill not going to introduce some provision which at any rate will limit the destruction of rabbits, as far as fire-arms are concerned, between September 1st and Christmas or the end of December? There is one other matter I must mention. Picture a county borough sending some gunner, accompanied by dogs, with strong chasing proclivities, into...
Mr Ernest Bennett: Have not I?
Mr Ernest Bennett: Is it not a fact that a person deported from Palestine or any other country is ipso facto debarred from returning as and when he likes?
Mr Ernest Bennett: 63. asked the First Commissioner of Works whether, in view of the fact that the proposed quarries in the vicinity of Housesteads (Borcovicus) would actually lie within the boundaries of the Roman fortifications, between the wall and the lines of the vallum, steps can be taken to preserve intact this section of our greatest monument of Roman Britain?
Mr Ernest Bennett: Cannot the whole system of these fortifications, walls, intervening spaces, milestones and vallums, be scheduled at once as ancient monuments?
Mr Ernest Bennett: Has the vallum been scheduled as an ancient monument, and not only the wall?
Mr Ernest Bennett: 45. asked the Prime Minister whether it is the intention of the Government to deal with the question of leasehold enfranchisement?