Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: Is the hon. and gallant Member aware that the jewellers' associations in this country view the decreases in duty with very real alarm indeed, and that his answer that there is no fear of further unemployment owing to the effect of the decrease is quite erroneous, and is not shared by people who know something about the industry?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: The Jewellers' Association of Birmingham say that it will affect the position very materially.
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: I should like to associate myself with the remarks of the right hon. Member for West Birmingham (Sir A. Chamberlain) and to support the Motion he has moved. When we became a tariff country one of the objects was to have trade bargains with foreign Powers, and we were perfectly prepared to see bargains made with foreign countries. My idea of bargaining is to get as much as you can and give as...
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: As the hon. Member for East Aberdeen (Mr. Boothby) said, there are not many arguments which have not already been used. I should like, however, to echo what has been said by my hon. Friend as to the necessity of passing this Bill this evening. It has been considered for a very long time in Committee. The whole of the case has been put very ably for and against, and it was the unanimous wish...
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: That is true, but it would not appeal to the individual who had to pay more for it when it went into his house. Another thing which the hon. Member for Ogmore (Mr. E. Williams) put very forcibly was, that ratepayers who are occupying council houses have the right every year, if they do not like their council, to put in men whom they do like. I do not think that the average individual in this...
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: Can the right hon. Gentleman say what was the price of raspberries in Kilmarnock last week?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: 46. asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the great changes in population since the last Redistribution Act in 1918, he proposes to introduce a Redistribution of Constituencies Bill?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: Surely it would be more opportune to deal with this matter during the longer Parliamentary life of the present Parliament than in a new Parliament, when life may perhaps be more hectic?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: I think there has been a certain amount of hair-splitting about what was in the Report of the Royal Commission and what was not. This is a common sense Bill, a very minor Bill and one that is needed. It does not create any new precedent at all, and, if it does not agree line by line with the Royal Commission, I do not think it matters in the least. For one thing, the Royal Commission was set...
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: On a point of Order. As one of the Members who spoke against the interests of the noble Lady an hour or so ago, I may say that I did say that they were prejudiced and biased in their views, but I never said, nor did I hear anyone say, that they were bribed or were offered any bribes by any temperance interests outside the House.
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: 25. asked the First Commissioner of Works whether he will consider providing extra lamps on the roadways in Hyde Park, especially on the North and West, in view of the great amount of traffic there?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: When the financial situation is easier in the right hon. Gentleman's Department will he consider putting up some more lamps?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: 26. asked the First Commissioner of Works whether he will consider opening the road north of the Serpentine to motor traffic, in view of the negligible amount of use it is now put to?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: 13. asked the Home Secretary whether he will issue further instructions with regard to the speed of empty taximeter cabs in London, in view of the obstruction they cause by their slowness?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: Is the Minister aware that there is a growing tendency by some taximeter cabs to drive very slowly along the centre of the road and not to give way to faster vehicles which follow?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: Every year I look forward to two things in these Army Debates. One is the speech of the Financial Secretary, which to-day was, by common consent, one of the best we have heard in this House for a long time. The other is the annual wrangle between the hon. Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker) and the ex-cavalry officers in this House. As I see many cavalry officers thirsting for the blood of the hon....
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: 8. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he proposes to take any action with a view to providing machinery for the more satisfactory definition of trade descriptions?
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: I agree very much with what has been said by my hon. Friend the Member for Torquay (Mr. C. Williams) with regard to the question of precedents. I believe it to be essential in any assembly, when any emergency arises, to create precedents, but it should only be done in a case of real emergency, in connection with a Bill which is of real importance to the country. I cannot believe that anyone...
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: I wish to make a last appeal to the Home Secretary to allow a free vote of the Committee not only on this 2mendment but on the Bill. It is a non-party Bill which cuts right across parties, but Members of all parties have differing views in regard to football coupons, and if the Home Secretary would give us a free vote he would have much more chance to get his Bill through than by strenuously...
Captain Hon. Arthur Hope: 4. asked the Secretary of State for India whether the Indian Civil Service (Bengal) Association has recently asked him to receive a deputation; and, if so, what reply was given?