HC Deb 05 November 1919 vol 120 cc1645-6

Whereupon Mr. SPEAKER, pursuant to the Order of the House of the 22nd October, proposed the Question, "That this House do now adjourn."

Mr. HOGGE

Last night I intended to raise a Question, which I had addressed to the Prime Minister on Monday, of which I had given notice before, both to the Leader of the House and to the Prime Minister, on account of the absolutely unsatisfactory nature of the reply given.

The question was— whether any steps have been taken to discover the authors of the anarchist conspiracy which resulted in the railway strike; and whether they are to be prosecuted? and the answer was— Any strike is anarchist which aims at compelling the Government to yield to the demands of a section of the population by holding up the whole community. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 3rd November, 1919, col. 1115.] A platitudinous answer of that kind which evades the real issue may satisfy the Leader of the House and may represent the opinion of the Prime Minister; but we have got in black and white the actual charge which the Prime Minister made at the time of the strike. On 27th September the Prime Minister said— The precipitancy of the action gives the impression of a deliberate and matured intention on the part of some individuals to seek a quarts! at any cost. It has convinced me that it is nut a strike for wages or better conditions. The Government have reason to believe that it has been engineered— Notice taken that forty Members were not present; House counted, and forty Members not being present,

The House was adjourned at Nineteen minutes after Eleven of the clock till To-morrow.