§ The CHAIRMANThe Amendment—in page 6, line 36, at the end, to insert the words "but in no case shall the appointed day be earlier than three months after the holding of an international conference of central banks"—in the name of the hon. Member for Peckham (Mr. Dalton) is not in order on the grounds of incompleteness.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed "That the Clause stand part of the Bill."
1395§ Mr. DALTONSince you have ruled that my Amendment is out of order, perhaps I may be allowed to make one or two observations along the lines that I should have done if the Amendment had been in order. [Interruption.]
§ The CHAIRMANThe interjections coming from hon. Members are uncalled for. The hon. Member for Peckham (Mr. Dalton) is perfectly in order.
§ Mr. DALTONI thank you, Mr. Hope, for your protection. The arguments which I should have desired to advance in favour of my Amendment if it had been in order would have been similar to the arguments on the Second Reading of the Bill, and I hope that in the period that has elapsed since the Second Reading the Government have thought over the matter a little more and may now be able to give us a more satisfactory answer. It was contended on the Second Reading that the proper date for the appointed day for these provisions coming into operation should not be until after the Genoa Conference Resolutions had been fully implemented. The Secretary of State for War stated, in the Debate on the Second Reading, that all of these Resolutions except the ninth had been implemented. That, in our view, is the most important Resolution of all, and it required that an international conference of the central banks should be summoned, and that an international convention should be concluded. We are anxious to suspend the coming into operation of this Bill until such time as that international conference has been held. There is no urgency whatever about this Bill, and that makes it all the more extraordinary that the Government should have kept this Committee up until a quarter to one o'clock. The present situation could perfectly well continue for a considerable time longer without any serious damage arising from any quarter. The appointed day which is to determine when this Bill shall come into operation should be put after, and not before, the summoning of this international convention. Unless the Government can give some satisfactory assurance that the appointed day will be fixed as late as I have indicated, my hon. Friends will divide against this Clause.
§ Miss WILKINSONSurely, on a matter of this importance we are going to have a 1396 reply from the Government. Obviously, the logic of carrying out the Genoa resolutions should be that a conference should be held, and it does seem to me that there is something extraordinarily suspicious about the haste with which the Government are rushing through this Bill. They are carrying it through almost as if they were engaged in a conspiracy. They have refused the most reasonable proposals put forward, and this extraordinarily reasonable proposal that has been put down in the names of my hon. Friend the Member for Peckham (Mr. Dalton) and the hon. Member for West Leicester (Mr. Pethick-Lawrence). Now we are being faced with a position that, in spite of the fact that it is well known that if the proposals for the rehabilitation of the currencies of the world are to have the desired effect in relieving unemployment and reviving trade and bringing prosperity to this country—which I regard as utterly impossible under this capitalist system—the Government should agree to the idea of this Amendment and appoint a day not earlier than three months after the holding of this conference.
We are highly suspicious that we are being led into some kind of conspiracy between Wall Street and Lombard Street and being led into holding up the civilised—and, for that matter, the uncivilised—races of the world under one banking concern. We feel that we are justified in making the most vigorous protest of which we are capable when the people of this country are being led into a trap. They are, in fact, being led into a trap. By the rushing through of this Bill, by the refusal of the Government that the appointed day should come not earlier than three months after the holding of an international conference of the central banks, by the attitude of the Government to this Amendment and Clause, and to all the Clauses that have preceded it, the people are being shown that we are justified in saying that this is nothing less than a conspiracy, and in the Division that will certainly follow I shall vote against the Clause.
§ Question put, "That the Clause stand part of the Bill."
§ The Committee divided: Ayes, 155; Noes, 58.
| Division No. 138.] | AYES. | [12.40 a.m. |
| Acland-Troyte, Lieut.-Colonel | Hacking, Douglas H. | Reid, D. D. (County Down) |
| Albery, Irving James | Hall, Lieut.-Col. Sir F. (Dulwich) | Richardson, Sir P. W. (Sur'y, Ch'ts'y) |
| Alexander, E. E. (Leyton) | Hammersley, S. S. | Roberts, Sir Samuel (Hereford) |
| Applin, Colonel R. V. K. | Hannon, Patrick Joseph Henry | Rodd, Rt. Hon. Sir James Rennell |
| Ashley, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Wilfrid W. | Harland, A. | Ruggles-Brise, Lieut.-Colonel E. A. |
| Balniel, Lord | Harrison, G. J. C. | Russell, Alexander West (Tynemouth) |
| Barclay-Harvey, C. M. | Hartington, Marquess of | Salmon, Major I. |
| Barnett, Major Sir Richard | Harvey, G. (Lambeth, Kennington) | Samuel, A. M. (Surrey, Farnham) |
| Beamish, Rear-Admiral T. P. H. | Haslam, Henry C. | Samuel, Samuel (W'dsworth, Putney) |
| Betterton, Henry B. | Headlam, Lieut.-Colonel C. M. | Sandeman, N. Stewart |
| Birchall, Major J. Dearman | Henderson, Capt. R. R. (Oxf'd, Henley) | Sanders, Sir Robert A. |
| Brass, Captain W. | Hennessy, Major Sir G. R. J. | Sandon, Lord |
| Bridgeman, Rt. Hon. William Clive | Hills, Major John Waller | Sassoon, Sir Philip Albert Gustave D. |
| Brocklebank, C. E. R. | Hilton, Cecil | Sheffield, Sir Berkeley |
| Brooke, Brigadier-General C. R. I. | Hope, Capt. A. O. J. (Warw'k, Nun.) | Shepperson, E. W. |
| Broun-Lindsay, Major H. | Hopkins, J. W. W. | Skelton, A. N. |
| Brown, Ernest (Leith) | Hudson, Capt. A. U. M. (Hackney, N.) | Smith, R. W. (Aberd'n & Kinc'dine,'C.) |
| Bullock, Captain M. | Hutchison, Sir Robert (Montrose) | Smith-Carington, Neville W. |
| Burman, J. B. | Inskip, Sir Thomas Walker H. | Somerville, A. A. (Windsor) |
| Cayzer,Maj.Sir Herbt. R. (Prtsmth, S.) | Kennedy, A. R. (Preston) | Stanley, Lieut.-Colonel Rt. Hon. G.F. |
| Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. N. (Ladywood) | Kindersley, Major Guy M. | Stanley, Lord (Fylde) |
| Christie, J. A. | King, Commodore Henry Douglas | Stanley, Hon. O. F. G. (Wastm'eland) |
| Cochrane, Commander Hon. A. D. | Knox, Sir Alfred | Steel, Major Samuel Strang |
| Colfox, Major Wm. Phillips | Lamb, J. Q. | Storry-Deans, R. |
| Cooper, A. Duff | Lucas-Tooth, Sir Hugh Vere | Sugden, Sir Wilfrid |
| Cope, Major William | Luce, Maj.-Gen. Sir Richard Harman | Thompson, Luke (Sunderland) |
| Couper, J. B. | MacAndrew, Major Charles Glen | Thomson, F. C. (Aberdeen, South) |
| Courtauld, Major J. S. | Macdonald, Sir Murdoch (Inverness) | Thomson, Rt. Hon. Sir W. Mitchell- |
| Cowan, D. M. (Scottish Universities) | MacIntyre, I. | Titchfield, Major the Marquess of |
| Craig, Sir Ernest (Chester, Crewe) | McLean, Major A. | Tomlinson, R. P. |
| Crookshank, Col. C. de W. (Berwick) | Macmillan, Captain H. | Tryon, Rt. Hon. George Clement |
| Crookshank, Cpt. H. (Lindsey, Gainsbro) | Macnaghten, Hon. Sir Malcolm | Vaughan-Morgan, Col. K. P. |
| Curzon, Captain Viscount | MacRobert, Alexander M. | Wallace, Captain D. E. |
| Dalkeith, Earl of | Maitland, A. (Kent, Faversham) | Ward, Lt.-Col. A. L. (Kingston-on-Hull) |
| Davidson, Major-General Sir J. H. | Margesson, Captain D. | Warner, Brigadier-General W. W. |
| Davies, Maj. Geo. F. (Somerset, Yeovil) | Mason, Colonel Glyn K. | Waterhouse, Captain Charles |
| Dean, Arthur Wellesley | Meller, R. J. | Watson, Rt. Hon. W. (Carlisle) |
| Drewe, C | Merriman, Sir F. Boyd | Wells, S. R. |
| Edmondson, Major A. J. | Monsell, Eyres, Com. Rt. Hon. B. M. | White, Lieut.-Col. Sir G. Dairymple- |
| Edwards, J. Hugh (Accrington) | Moore-Brabazon, Lieut.-Col. J. T. C. | Williams, A. M. (Cornwall, Northern) |
| Elliot, Major Walter E. | Nelson, Sir Frank | Williams, Com. C. (Devon, Torquay) |
| Fanshawe, Captain G. D. | Newman, Sir R. H. S. D. L. (Exeter) | Williams, Herbert G. (Reading) |
| Foxcroft, Captain C. T. | Oakley, T. | Windsor-Clive, Lieut.-Colonel George |
| Fraser, Captain Ian | O'Connor, T. J. (Bedford, Luton) | Womersley, W. J. |
| Fremantle, Lt.-Col. Francis E. | Penny, Frederick George | Wood, B. C. (Somerset, Bridgwater) |
| Gadie, Lieut.-Col. Anthony | Perkins, Colonel E. K. | Wood, E (Chest'r, Stalyb'ge & Hyde) |
| Ganzoni, Sir John | Peto, Sir Basil E. (Devon, Barnstaple) | Wood, Rt. Hon. Sir Kingsley |
| Garro-Jones, Captain G. M. | Peto, G. (Somerset, Frame) | Worthington-Evans, Rt. Hon. Sir L. |
| Gilmour, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir John | Pilcher, G. | Yerburgh, Major Robert D. T. |
| Gower, Sir Robert | Preston, William | |
| Graham, Fergus (Cumberland, N.) | Price, Major C. W. M. | TELLERS FOR THE AYES.— |
| Grant, Sir J. A. | Raine, Sir Walter | Captain Bowyer and Sir Victor |
| Greene, W. P. Crawford | Ramsden, E. | Warrender. |
| NOES. | ||
| Adamson, Rt. Hon. W. (Fife, West) | Hirst, W. (Bradford, South) | Shaw, Rt. Hon. Thomas (Preston) |
| Adamson, W. M. (Staff., Cannock) | Hollins, A. | Sitch, Charles H. |
| Alexander, A. V. (Sheffield, Hillsbro') | Hudson, J. H. (Huddersfield) | Slesser, Sir Henry H. |
| Batey, Joseph | Jenkins, W. (Glamorgan, Neath) | Smith, Ben (Bermondsey, Rotherhithe) |
| Brown, James (Ayr and Bute) | John, William (Rhondda, West) | Stephen, Campbell |
| Buchanan, G. | Johnston, Thomas (Dundee) | Sullivan, Joseph |
| Charleton, H. C. | Jones, J. J. (West Ham, Slivertown) | Sutton, J. E. |
| Dalton, Hugh | Jones, T. I. Mardy (Pontypridd) | Thurtle, Ernest |
| Day, Harry | Kelly, W. T. | Tinker, John Joseph |
| Edwards, C. (Monmouth, Bedwellty) | Kirkwood, D. | Varley, Frank B. |
| Gibbins, Joseph | Lawson, John James | Watson, W. M. (Dunfermline) |
| Gillett, George M. | Lindley, F. W. | Watts-Morgan. Lt.-Col. D. (Rhondda) |
| Graham, D. M. (Lanark, Hamilton) | Lunn, William | Wellock, Wilfred |
| Grenfell, D. R. (Glamorgan) | Mackinder, W. | Welsh, J. C. |
| Grundy, T. W. | Malone, C. L'Estrange (N'thampton) | Whiteley, W. |
| Hall, F. (York, W. R., Normanton) | Maxton James | Wilkinson, Ellen C. |
| Hayday, Arthur | Murnin, H. | Williams, T. (York, Don Valley) |
| Hayes, John Henry | Oliver, George Harold | Windsor, Walter |
| Henderson, Right Hon. A. (Burnley) | Parkinson, John Alien (Wigan) | |
| Hirst, G. H. | Saklatvala, Shapurji | TELLERS FOR THE NOES.— |
| Mr. T. Henderson and Mr. Paling. |
§ Schedule agreed to.
§ Bill reported; as amended, to be con- 1398 sidered To-morrow, and to be printed. [Bill 136.]