Mr James Bell: 3. asked the Minister of Pensions if his attention has been drawn to the case of the children of the late Private H. D. Phillips, No. 2617, King's Liverpool Regiment, who for the past three years have been receiving an educational grant from the Special Grants Committee; whether he is aware that this grant was stopped last September and that, despite repeated letters on the matter, the mother...
Mr James Bell: I have been wondering what is the real object of the desire to bring the friendly societies into this Bill. I remember hearing the hon. Member who has just sat down attempt to make out a good case for industrial insurance societies being allowed to administer the benefits provided by this Bill, and in some of his arguments to-day, notably the one dealing with rural workers, if he had been...
Mr James Bell: I beg to second the Amendment.
Mr James Bell: I have listened very carefully to the speeches which have been delivered, and I want to say at once that I have heard no expression from these benches, at any rate, that we do not welcome a ballot vote, and that it should be conducted in secret. We are not opposed to a ballot vote. We are not opposed to its being taken in secret, but we are opposed to this Bill because we do not think it is...
Mr James Bell: If we do not always welcome that method, if we do not always take advantage of it, it is not our fault. We sometimes adopt other methods because we want to get our members to vote in larger numbers than they do when we set up polling booths, and when we are told this Bill is going to do something for trade unions which trade unions cannot do for themselves, or will not do, then I at once join...
Mr James Bell: 43. asked the Minister of Health if he is aware of the lack of a uniform system for the inspection of meat and that the want of such a system constitutes a menace to the public health; and whether he will arrange for the establishment of a uniform system which will include the ante-mortem and post-mortem examination of all animals intended for human consumption?
Mr James Bell: I have no desire to say very much on this subject just now, because I do not think it is necessary after the way in which the Motion which has been moved from these benches has been received by the Committee. One or two arguments, however, have been used upon which I want to touch. First, I would like the right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Labour to make one position quite clear, because I...
Mr James Bell: So that those whom it does affect are the demobilised men who have received thirty-nine weeks and who will be entitled to go on for another nine weeks at a reduced rate. As far as they are concerned, men who have been out of work the longest and who need assistance the most are the men to whom the change is to apply. That, I think, is a mistake. On the other hand, when you apply it to...
Mr James Bell: In rising to address the House for the first time, I could not have chosen a subject which was of more interest to the voters at the last election. I do not care to what party in this House hon. Members may belong, they will agree that no question loomed so large during the election as the question of the treatment of our fighting men and their dependants. There cannot be two opinions in the...
Mr James Bell: The point I tried to make was of a man before the War earning 50s., and the present market value would be £5.
Mr James Bell: 41. asked the Secretary of State for War whether the Army Ordnance Corps have taken over the munition factory at Aintree for use as a store, and that men who have been employed there during the War are being discharged and their places filled by ex-soldiers; whether many of these are voluntarily attested men, who were employed on munitions in preference to being taken into the Army; and...
