HC Deb 08 July 1930 vol 241 cc291-305

Where contributions are or shall become payable to any local authority under this Act or under the Housing Act, 1923, or under the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1924, such local authority shall not after the commencement of this Act make of impose any term, condition, or restriction with respect to the form of light, heat, power, or energy to be used in any house provided by them under any of the said Act or Acts or with respect to the taking from any particular local authority, company, body, or person of any form of light, heat, power, or energy for use in any such house.—[Mr. Womersley.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

Mr. WOMERSLEY

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

I bring this forward at the request of the National Gas Council, which consists of representatives, both of those who are managing gas companies throughout the country and those who represent the workmen in that industry. A peculiar position has arisen inasmuch as certain local authorities who own housing estates have stipulated that those who occupy the houses shall only employ, to give power, light or heat, the medium that they themselves nominate. It is a new principle in local government and I am certain that, if it had been a private owner of an estate who had suggested this to his tenants, we should have heard a good deal about it in the House of Commons. When I read a letter that has recently been sent to a tenant on a corporation housing estate, the House will understand why I am moving the Clause. This is written from the town clerk's office at Barnsley: Dear Sir, or Madam, It has been brought to the notice of the Corporation that the gas company have been canvassing tenants of the corporation's houses with a view to having gas installed. I am therefore, instructed to inform you that by the terms of your tenancy you are not entitled to agree to the gas company installing gas in your premises without the previous consent in writing of your landlord, the corporation. In no circumstances, therefore, must you permit gas to be installed in your premises. If this is done, it will be regarded as a breach of the conditions of your tenancy and the council will be compelled to serve notice to quit and take steps to obtain possession of your house. It is a strange sound to my ears to hear the cheers of hon. Members opposite, who get up in the market place and talk about the liberty of the subject. If this had come from a private owner, instead of cheers we should have had protestations and groans. There is grave alarm in the ranks of the working men engaged in this industry. I was approached by the hon. Member for West Nottingham (Mr. Hayday), who is an official of the union, and also by the hon. Member for Plaistow (Mr. Thorne), who is also concerned in the matter. There were certain Members opposite who, when the Clause first came before the Committee, put their names to it but, for some mysterious reason, withdrew them on the very morning when the question came up. If hon. Members want a little more evidence of what is felt in the matter from their own side, let me read a resolution passed by the National Joint Industrial Council of the gas industry, representing both sides again of the industry. This council views with concern the fact that in certain cases local authorities, by inserting conditions in leases and in other ways, have interfered with the liberty of choice of their tenants in determining what forms of light, heat and power they will use in their houses, and considers that all tenants of council houses should be free to use whatever form of lighting, heating, &c., they may desire. The council, therefore, urges the Minister of Health to take the steps necessary to prohibit local authorities from imposing in any way any condition or restriction with regard to the form of light, heat and power to be used in any house, shop, office or other building, owned and controlled by them, or with regard to the taking from any particular local authority, company, body or person of any form of light, heat or power. I suggest that the tenant should have the right to select the medium of either lighting, heating or power that he himself desires. Surely we have not come to this, that we have to be dragooned into doing what other people think we ought to do rather than be allowed to do what we think is best in our own interest. From the point of view of the individual I am all out for liberty every time.

Mr. R. RICHARDSON

Is it in order for an hon. Member to move a Clause which repeals part of an Act which is not before the House?

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER (Mr. Dunnico)

The Clause is in order.

Mr. WOMERSLEY

This matter was brought before the House in 1925 in connection with the Newport Corporation Act, and a Clause was inserted that, The Corporation shall not make or impose, under the powers of this section, any term, condition or restriction with respect to the form of light, heat, power or energy to be used in Any house, shop, office, warehouse or other building or on any lands or with respect to the taking from any particular local authority, company, body or person of any form of light, power, heat or energy. I am asking that the same restriction shall be put in as regards this matter. We are providing the national money of the taxpayers to subsidise the building of these houses, and to say that a certain form of light, heat or power shall be used and another forbidden, to my mind, is not in any way a fair deal. The question is becoming one of considerable importance, particularly to those who are engaged in the gas industry, because it is estimated that already there are something like 80,000 houses on which restrictions have been imposed, and that is the reason why those who are interested in the welfare of workers in the industry are becoming alarmed. What you require is fair competition as between the two systems of providing heat, light and power. Is a monopoly of one particular body, whether a private company or a municipally owned company, going to be in the best interests of the persons who have to use either of these mediums for lighting, heating and power? It is reasonable competition as between the two forms that has brought about the system whereby we have been able to get cheaper gas and cheaper electricity. [An HON. MEMBER: "Cheaper labour!"] I am quite prepared to leave that in the hands of the hon. Member for Plaistow and the hon. Member for West Nottingham; they can deal with it quite well on behalf of their workmen.

I suggest that the fact that we have had this competition has tended to the good and the welfare of the people who use these forms of light, heat and power. It is not right that any owners of property, whether private owners or a corporation with a housing estate, should say to the tenant that he must do what he is told and take light, heat and power from them at the price they like to charge? In many cases corporations are charging a fixed standard rate whether the people use the equivalent amount or not. Tenants have to accept this sort of thing whether they like it or not, and I say that it is not fair and not British. [Laughter.] I hope that hon. Members opposite, including the hon. Member who is now laughing, when they get back to their constituencies and have to face some of their gas workers, will realise the position.

Dr. DAVIES

I beg to second the Motion.

This matter was raised in Committee and defeated there. To Members on this side of the House this matter has proved an interesting exhibition of the love, good will and harmony existing among the Members of the Government. We find members of the gas industry keenly interested in their own affairs and the members of the electrical industry up against them, and on the other hand we have the members of the electricity industry very keenly looking after their own affairs to the detriment of their brother workers in the gas industry. Before hon. Members opposite have the effrontery to come down to this House to speak of the unanimity with Which Labour Members work together, of their good will towards each other and of their love for international action and their desire to see all the workers of the world united, it would be as well for the workers of this country, first of all, to unite and agree upon a common ground of policy on such a matter. We were told in Committee that a protest had been made by members of the gas industry trade unions because they found that in a certain district they were being penalised unduly due to the existence of a municipal electrical undertaking. Naturally, we thought that the Minister or the Parliamentary Secretary would have expressed some sympathy with these people and have done all they could to help them. I would like to read a few of the words which the Parliamentary Secretary mentioned in Committee.

Mr. SPEAKER

We are not in Committee now.

Dr. DAVIES

Am I to understand that we are not allowed to quote from anything which was said in Committee?

Mr. SPEAKER

No, but hon. Members can only make one speech on an Amendment.

Dr. DAVIES

I am sure the hon. Lady will be glad that I am not to have an opportunity of refreshing her memory. The plain fact is that the hon. Lady was definitely against the Amendment and in favour of municipalities having the power to say to people of the district what light or power they should use. If the municipality decided that the people were to use electricity, then electricity they must have whether gas was there or not. That sort of thing is an undue interference with the liberty of the subject. Naturally we expect that sort of thing from hon. Members opposite, but we on this side, as Members of the House of Commons representing the public, wish to enter a protest and say that the time has not yet come when all the people in this country or in a municipality should be dragooned by the municipal authority into doing things which they do not want to do.

Mr. GREENWOOD

As the hon. Member for Grimsby (Mr. Womersley) has said, this Clause has previously been discussed. Behind the Clause itself, of course, is the struggle between public enterprise and private enterprise.

Mr. WOMERSLEY

Oh, no.

Mr. GREENWOOD

That is really what this Clause is about. The Clause is promoted by the gas industry, because it does not think that the local authority which owns an alternative supply should impose restrictions upon their tenants. That is what I understand all the trouble to be about. This Clause has certainly not emanated from the tenants. We have had no complaints from tenants about the matter; all the complaints have come from the private gas companies.

Mr. WOMERSLEY

Oh, no.

Mr. GREENWOOD

It ill becomes gas companies to talk about the liberty of the subject. In the nature of things the distribution of gas is a monopoly, and the local consumer has to take the gas company's gas good or bad.

Mr. WOMERSLEY

No. The right hon. Gentleman knows that there is a test.

Mr. GREENWOOD

We are told—I have no opportunity of checking the figures—that there are something like 80,000 houses where these restrictions apply. I would remind the House that we have built about 1,500,000 houses since the War, and, therefore, on the hon. Gentleman's own showing there is really not much substance in his case. He is asking for a limitation of the freedom of local authorities. Let us consider how local authorities have exercised their discretion in the past. I say—and hon. Members know that it is so—that in regard to 90 per cent. of the municipal houses which are built in this country the usual form is to provide electricity for lighting and gas for heating and cooking. That is the normal arrangement. It is only in very isolated cases where the local authority insists upon the tenants consuming electricity for lighting purposes and does not allow them the use of gas. In those circumstances, and in view of the fact that local authorities have acted reasonably in the matter, it is most unreasonable to put these municipal authorities under a restriction of this kind and to which they could not tamely submit. If a gas company were to house their own employés and had their own tenants one of the first things they would do would be to compel those tenants to take the company's gas. I can see no difference in that position from the case of the local authority who only permit the use of electricity. No one wants gas for lighting purposes if they can get electricity, but they do require gas for heating purposes and for cooking. In view of the fact that that is the normal arrangement and that the best figure that the hon. Member can produce is one of 80,000 houses where there are restrictions, I hope that the House will reject the Clause so that no limitation is imposed upon public authorities in the interests of private enterprise.

Sir K. WOOD

I am sorry the right hon. Gentleman has not seen his way to accept this Clause. I can assure him from my own personal knowledge, that this is not a question either of public enterprise versus private enterprise, or of gas companies versus electricity undertakings. I have in my Division—and any Member of the House of Commons can test the matter for himself—a case which is illustrative of the need for a Clause of this kind. The local authority in Woolwich have erected a number of houses on their housing estate without making any provision for coal fires. Throughout the whole of their administration of this area they have definitely refused the tenants the right to have any kind of heating or lighting other than electricity. The right hon. Gentleman said, and I agree with him, that it was sensible, decent and proper that a local authority should say, "You must take your lighting from the electricity authority, and for heating you must use the gas supply." The Socialist Borough Council of Woolwich—and no doubt the right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Health knows a good deal about it now; much more than he did a year ago—has actually had the audacity to say to the tenants, "You shall not have any kind of heating or lighting except from the Electricity Authority." The right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Health said, "Oh, this was a quarrel of the gas company." I can assure him that it was nothing of the kind. A very large number of the tenants on this particular estate have, from my own knowledge, complained most bitterly of their treatment, and rightly so. In the first place, they are not given the elementary right, which one would have thought they would have had and which hon. Members and I would desire to have, to say what kind of heating they wished to have provided for them.

I should have thought that no one in this House would have supported a proposition of that kind. As I have said, in a large number of these houses the tenants cannot have a coal fire, and as a result many tenants last winter found that in having to pay lighting and heating charges, a considerable sum had to be added to the rents of the houses administered by this Socialist council. If any hon. Member cares to visit a few of the houses and ask what this has meant not only from the point of view of freedom of choice but from the point of view of cost, he will find that this condition has added tremendously to the rents. Tenants have told me that they have been in the position during winter time of having to pay a considerable addition to their rent owing to cost of heating and power.

Mr. McSHANE

Will the right hon. Gentleman state the specific amount?

Sir K. WOOD

A considerable amount. Obviously they must pay the amount. There can be no denial of the fact that they have to do that or do without proper heat in the winter time. In a very large number of cases it has proved to be a considerable hardship.

Mr. McSHANE

The right hon. Gentleman has not given us any figures.

6.0 p.m.

Sir K. WOOD

Apart from that fact, no one should be able to say to the tenant of a house which has been built partly by State money, "You are to have a particular kind of heating and lighting." Why should not a tenant of a house on a municipal estate be in the same position as hon. Members of this House and be able to have what kind of heating and lighting he desires? It is a monstrous piece of tryanny. I do not base this case at all upon the opposition of the workers in the gas industry. I think that they have a right to complain, and I think that the hon. Gentleman the Member for Plaistow (Mr. Thorne) ought to be here this afternoon to put the case of his union. The workers in the gas industry have as much right to have their position considered as have the employés of any local authority. It is an elementary right that people who find themselves on these estates should not have to buy according to the dictates of some few people, not of much importance, on a Socialist council, who are in this way able to impose their will and add greatly to the difficulties and expenses. I am disappointed that the Minister of Health, who in many ways has shown that he has learnt a good deal in the last 12 months, has not seen his way to accept this new Clause. It would do something to prove that, after all, there is a little freedom left in the country even under a Socialist Government. I hope we shall divide on this new Clause unless the right hon. Gentleman changes his mind.

Captain GUNSTON

The discussion of this new Clause and the jeers of hon. Members opposite show what we may expect if we ever get Socialism in our time. They were, obviously, very uncomfortable when the right hon. Member for West Woolwich (Sir K. Wood) was giving his experience of housing conditions at Woolwich, and I have yet to learn that members of the working classes have not as much right to a coal fire as hon. Members opposite. One of the most astounding proceedings in the Committee upstairs was when hon. Members opposite put their names to an Amendment and afterwards took them off. The Minister of Health says that in practice local authorities are reasonable and that there are only a few cases in which this new Clause would be necessary. If that is so, he might well accept it. We say that people living in these houses have the right to alternative light and heat. The hon. Member for Middlesbrough, East (Miss Wilkinson) is as keen as I am on the installation of electrical appliances in working-class homes, because it saves the housewife a good deal of work, but electricity for cooking is not yet as Cheap as we would like to see it; and gas is cheaper. It is monstrous to say to people with small incomes, and when there is such a tremendous amount of unemployment, that they must go in for the more expensive form of cooking and heating—

Miss WILKINSON

In many places they pay for electricity in the rent—a certain amount according to the rate.

Captain GUNSTON

My experience is that the cost of electricity supplied by municipalities is not very cheap. If this Clause is not accepted, it means that we are laying down the principle that local authorities can say to people in these houses that they can only buy this and that. In fact, we are laying it down as a principle that a person living in a municipal house shall go only to the co-operative stores or to the municipal stores. That is why hon. Members opposite are so keen for the Clause to be rejected. Let me put the point of view of the workers in the gas industry. They are competing in the matter of heating and cooking with a supply which in most cases is cheaper, and they demand fair play. What happens? That demand is taken up by hon. Members opposite. They support it upstairs, but then the cock crows, or the whip cracks, they withdraw their names. Once again hon. Members opposite are prepared to sacrifice the interests of the workers to worn-out political theories.

Colonel HOWARD-BURY

I desire to take part in this discussion not as representing a gas company or an electrical undertaking, but as representing the right of the subject to choose whatever he may prefer, whether it is gas or electricity. The Minister of Health has told us that this will affect only 85,000 houses, but in that case it will affect between 300,000 and 400,000 people, and if local authorities are not behaving properly to this number of people it is right that a Clause should be inserted to prevent them from abusing their authority. That is what we ask by this new Clause. I believe the Minister of Health had a letter from the hon. Member for Plaistow (Mr. Thorne) on behalf of the gas workers asking him to support this new Clause. Hon. Members opposite say that we have given no definite cases, that we have given no proofs. I have raised the question two or three times in the House by means of questions, and only yesterday I received a reply in regard to the Buckland housing estate in which the Parliamentary Secretary said that she was looking into the matter. In this case the tenants have complained that the Dover Town Council have decided to postpone a decision giving the Dover Gas Company permission to run gas mains on the Buckland housing estate. The decision has disappointed the inhabitants of these houses and many protests have been made. In addition it is stopping work; and there are some thousands of unemployed in Dover.

Mr. McSHANE

Is that a Socialist council?

Colonel HOWARD-BURY

I do not care whether it is a Socialist council or a Tory council, there should be freedom of choice. In another case the tenants say that gas is wanted because cooking by electricity is so expensive; 95 per cent. of them desire to have gas. So far they have been refused, and it seems to me to be very childish to prevent a private trading company from supplying gas because the corporation has a municipally-owned electricity undertaking. There is also the case at Wrexham, but the worst case of all is the one at Barnsley, where 181 tenants were threatened with ejection because they had gas fitted in their houses. Gas is very much cheaper than electricity for cooking purposes; electricity is not suitable, and there is a good gas supply. Is it right that tenants of houses which have been built with public money should be prevented from choosing whether they will have gas or electricity? I do not care which they have, but I do think that there should be freedom of choice, and that if a tenant chooses to have one form of light and heating he should not be told that he must leave his house. That is an intolerable injustice. It is almost

an infringement of the Truck Acts, which were passed to prevent employers imposing as a condition of employment that their employés should buy from stores run by the employer. This is very much on a par with that, and it seems to me to be a legal point as to whether it is not an infringement of the Truck Acts to compel tenants of these houses to take the supply which is run by the municipality which has built the houses. The new Clause would prevent these tenants being run by a municipality for its own benefit. They should have freedom of choice, and I hope the Government will accept the proposal.

Question put, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

The House divided: Ayes, 164; Noes, 254.

Division No. 419.] AYES. [6.12 p.m.
Acland-Troyte, Lieut.-Colonel England, Colonel A. McConnell, Sir Joseph
Albery, Irving James Everard, W. Lindsay Macquisten, F. A.
Allen, Sir J. Sandeman (Liverp'l., W.) Ferguson, Sir John MacRobert, Rt. Hon. Alexander M.
Astor, Maj. Hon. John J. (Kent, Dover) Fielden, E. B. Makins, Brigadier-General E.
Atkinson, C. Fison, F. G. Clavering Margesson, Captain H. D.
Balfour, Captain H. H. (I. of Thanet) Ford, Sir P. J. Mason, Colonel Glyn K.
Beamish, Rear-Admiral T. P. H. Forestier-Walker, Sir L. Merriman, Sir F. Boyd
Beaumont, M. W. Fremantle, Lieut.-Colonel Francis E. Mitchell, Sir W. Lane (Streatham)
Berry, Sir George Ganzoni, Sir John Monsell, Eyres, Com. Rt. Hon. Sir B.
Betterton, Sir Henry B. Gibson, C. G. (Pudsey & Otley) Moore, Sir Newton J. (Richmond)
Birchall, Major Sir John Dearman Gilmour, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir John Moore, Lieut.-Colonel T. C. R. (Ayr)
Bird, Ernest Roy Glyn, Major R. G. C. Muirhead, A. J.
Boothby, R. J. G. Gower, Sir Robert Newton, Sir D. G. C. (Cambridge)
Bourne, Captain Robert Croft Grace, John Nicholson, Col. Rt. Hn. W. G. (Ptrsl'ld)
Bowyer, Captain Sir George E. W. Graham, Fergus (Cumberland, N.) Nield, Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert
Boyce, H. L. Grattan-Doyle, Sir N. Ormsby-Gore, Rt. Hon. William
Bracken, B. Grenfell, Edward C. (City of London) Peake, Capt. Osbert
Brass, Captain Sir William Griffith, F. Kingsley (Middlesbro' W.) Percy, Lord Eustace (Hastings)
Briscoe, Richard George Guinness, Rt. Hon. Walter E. Peto, Sir Basil E. (Devon, Barnstaple)
Brown, Col. D. C. (N'th'l'd'., Hexham) Gunston, Captain D. W. Pilditch, Sir Philip
Brown, Brig.-Gen. H. C. (Berks, Newb'y) Hacking, Rt. Hon. Douglas H. Pownall, Sir Assheton
Buchan, John Hall, Lieut.-Col. Sir F. (Dulwich) Ramsbotham, H.
Butler, R. A. Hamilton, Sir George (Ilford) Rentoul, Sir Gervais S.
Cadogan, Major Hon. Edward Hamilton, Sir R. (Orkney & Zetland) Reynolds, Col. Sir James
Carver, Major W. H. Hammersley, S. S. Rodd, Rt. Hon. Sir James Rennell
Cayzer, Sir C. (Chester, City) Hanbury, C. Ross, Major Ronald D.
Cayzer, Maj. Sir Herbt. R. (Prtsmth, S.) Hartington, Marquess of Russell, Alexander West (Tynemouth)
Chamberlain, Rt. Hn. Sir J. A. (Birm., W.) Harvey, Major S. E. (Devon, Totnes) Russell, Richard John (Eddisbury)
Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. N. (Edgbaston) Haslam, Henry C. Salmon, Major I.
Chapman, Sir S. Henderson, Capt. R. R. (Oxf'd, Henley) Samuel, A. M. (Surrey, Farnham)
Churchill, Rt. Hon. Winston Spencer Heneage, Lieut.-Colonel Arthur P. Sandeman, Sir N. Stewart
Cobb, Sir Cyril Hennessy, Major Sir G. R. J. Sassoon, Rt. Hon. Sir Philip A. G. D.
Cockerill, Brig.-General Sir George Herbert, Sir Dennis (Hertford) Savery, S. S.
Colfox, Major William Philip Hoare, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir S. J. G. Shepperson, Sir Ernest Whittome
Courtauld, Major J. S. Hope, Sir Harry (Forfar) Smith, Louis W. (Sheffield, Hallam)
Cowan, D. M. Horne, Rt. Hon. Sir Robert S. Smith, R. W. (Aberd'n & Kinc'dine, C.)
Cranbourne, Viscount Howard-Bury, Colonel C. K. Smith-Carington, Neville W.
Crichton-Stuart, Lord C. Hudson, Capt. A. U. M. (Hackney, N.) Smithers, Waldron
Croft, Brigadier-General Sir H. Hunter-Weston, Lt.-Gen. Sir Aylmer Somerset, Thomas
Culverwell, C. T. (Bristol, West) Hurd, Percy A. Somerville, A. A. (Windsor)
Cunliffe-Lister, Rt. Hon. Sir Philip Jones, Henry Haydn (Merioneth) Spender-Clay, Colonel H.
Dalkeith, Earl of Kindersley, Major G. M. Stanley, Lord (Fylde)
Dalrymple-White, Lt.-Col. Sir Godfrey Knox, Sir Alfred Stanley, Maj. Hon. O. (W'morland)
Davidson, Major-General Sir J. H. Lamb, Sir J. Q. Stuart, Hon. J. (Moray and Nairn)
Davies, Dr. Vernon Lambert, Rt. Hon. George (S. Molton) Sueter, Rear-Admiral M. F.
Davies, Maj. Geo. F. (Somerset, Yeovil) Law, Sir Alfred (Derby, High Peak) Thomas, Major L. B. (King's Norton)
Dawson, Sir Philip Leighton, Major B. E. P. Thomson, Sir F.
Dixon, Captain Rt. Hon. Herbert Lewis, Oswald (Colchester) Tinne, J. A.
Dugdale, Capt. T. L. Llewellin, Major J. J. Titchfield, Major the Marquess of
Edmondson, Major A. J. Lymington, Viscount Todd, Capt. A. J.
Train, J. Wells, Sydney R. Wood, Rt. Hon. Sir Kingsley
Tryon, Rt. Hon. George Clement Williams, Charles (Devon, Torquay) Young, Rt. Hon. Sir Hilton
Turton, Robert Hugh Windsor-Clive, Lieut.-Colonel George
Vaughan-Morgan, Sir Kenyon Withers, Sir John James TELLERS FOR THE AYES.—
Wallace, Capt. D. E. (Hornsey) Wolmer, Rt. Hon. Viscount Sir George Penny and Sir Victor
Wardlaw-Milne, J. S. Womersley, W. J. Warrender.
NOES.
Adamson, Rt. Hon. W. (Fife, West) Griffiths, T. (Monmouth, Pontypool) Morrison, Herbert (Hackney, South)
Adamson, W. M. (Staff., Cannock) Grundy, Thomas W. Morrison, Robert C. (Tottenham, N.)
Addison, Rt. Hon. Dr. Christopher Hall, F. (York, W. R., Normanton) Mort, D. L.
Ammon, Charles George Hall, G. H. (Merthyr Tydvil) Moses, J. J. H.
Arnott, John Hamilton, Mary Agnes (Blackburn) Mosley, Lady C. (Stoke-on-Trent)
Aske, Sir Robert Hardie, George D. Muggeridge, H. T,
Attlee, Clement Richard Harris, Percy A. Murnin, Hugh
Ayles, Walter Hartsborn, Rt. Hon. Vernon Nathan, Major H. L.
Baker, John (Wolverhampton, Bilston) Hastings, Dr. Somerville Naylor, T. E.
Baldwin, Oliver (Dudley) Haycock, A. W. Newman, Sir R. H. S. D. L. (Exeter)
Barnes, Alfred John Hayes, John Henry Noel Baker, P. J.
Barr, James Henderson, Right Hon. A. (Burnley) Oldfield, J. R.
Batey, Joseph Henderson, Arthur, Junr. (Cardiff, S.) Oliver, George Harold (Ilkeston)
Beckett, John (Camberwell, Peckham) Henderson, Thomas (Glasgow) Oliver, P. M. (Man., Blackley)
Bellamy, Albert Henderson, W. W. (Middx., Enfield) Owen, Major G. (Carnarvon)
Bennett, Capt. Sir E. N. (Cardiff C) Harriotts, J. Owen, H. F. (Hereford)
Benson, G. Hirst, G. H. (York W. R. Wentworth) Palin, John Henry
Bentham, Dr. Ethel Hirst, W. (Bradford, South) Palmer, E. T.
Bevan, Aneurin (Ebbw Vale) Hoffman, P. C. Parkinson, John Allen (Wigan)
Birkett, W. Norman Hopkin, Daniel Peters, Dr. Sidney John
Bondfield, Rt. Hon. Margaret Horrabin, J. F. Pethick-Lawrence, F. W.
Bowen, J. W. Hudson, James H. (Huddersfield) Phillips, Dr. Marion
Bowerman, Ht. Hon. Charles W. Hunter, Dr. Joseph Picton-Turbervill, Edith
Broad, Francis Alfred Hutchison, Maj.-Gen. Sir R. Pole, Major D. G.
Brockway, A. Fenner Isaacs, George Potts, John S.
Bromfield, William John, William (Rhondda, West) Price, M. P.
Brooke, W. Jones, F. Llewellyn- (Flint) Pybus, Percy John
Brothers, M. Jones, Rt. Hon. Leif (Camborne) Ramsay, T. B. Wilson
Brown, C. W. E. (Notts, Mansfield) Jones, T. I. Mardy (Pontypridd) Rathbone, Eleanor
Brown, Ernest (Leith) Jowett, Rt. Hon. F. W. Raynes, W. R.
Brown, Rt. Hon. J. (South Ayrshire) Kelly, W. T. Richards, R.
Brown, W. J. (Wolverhampton, West) Kennedy, Thomas Richardson, R. (Houghton-le-Spring)
Burgess, F. G. Kenworthy, Lt.-Com. Hon. Joseph M. Ritson, J.
Buxton, C. R. (Yorks. W. R. Elland) Kirkwood, D. Robinson, Sir T. (Lancs, Stretford)
Caine, Derwent Hall- Lang, Gordon Romeril, H. G.
Cameron, A. G. Lathan, G. Rosbotham, D. S. T.
Cape, Thomas Law, Albert (Bolton) Rowson, Guy
Carter, W. (St. Pancras, S. W.) Law, A. (Rosendale) Salter, Dr. Alfred
Charleton, H. C. Lawrence, Susan Samuel Rt. Hon. Sir H. (Darwen)
Chater, Daniel Lawrie, Hugh Hartley (Staiybridge) Samuel, H. Walter (Swansea, West)
Church, Major A. G. Lawson, John James Sanders, W. S.
Clarke, J. S. Lawther, W. (Barnard Castle) Sandham, E.
Cluse, W. S. Leach, W. Sawyer, G. F.
Clynes, Rt. Hon. John R. Lee, Frank (Derby, N. E.) Scott, James
Cocks, Frederick Seymour Lloyd, C. Ellis Scrymgeour, E.
Compton, Joseph Logan, David Gilbert Sexton, James
Cove, William G. Longbottom, A. W. Shepherd, Arthur Lewis
Daggar, George Longden, F. Sherwood, G. H.
Dalton, Hugh Lowth, Thomas Shield, George William
Davies, E. C. (Mentgomery) Lunn, William Shiels, Dr. Drummond
Davies, Rhys John (Westhoughton) MacDonald, Malcolm (Bassetlaw) Shillaker, J. F.
Denman, Hon. R. D. McElwee, A. Shinwell, E.
Dickson, T. McEntee, V. L. Short, Alfred (Wednesbury)
Dukes, C. McGovern, J. (Glasgow, Shettleston) Simmons, C. J.
Duncan, Charles McKinlay, A. Simon, E. D. (Manch'ter, Withington)
Ede, James Chuter MacLaren, Andrew Simon, Rt. Hon. Sir John
Edmunds, J. E. McShane, John James Sinclair, Sir A. (Caithness)
Edwards, C. (Monmouth, Bedwellty Malone, C. L'Estrange (N'thampton) Sinkinson, George
Edwards, E. (Morpeth) Mander, Geoffrey le M. Sitch, Charles H.
Egan, W. H. March, S. Smith, Ben (Bermondsey, Rotherhithe)
Elmley, Viscount Marcus, M. Smith, Frank (Nuneaton)
Evans, Capt. Ernest (Welsh Univer.) Markham, S. F. Smith, H. B. Lees- (Keighlay)
Foot, Isaac Marley, J. Smith, Rennie (Penistone)
Freeman, Peter Marshall, Fred Smith, Tom (Pontefract)
Gardner, J. P. (Hammersmith, N.) Mathers, George Smith, W. R. (Norwich)
George, Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd (Car'vn) Matters, L. W. Snell, Harry
George, Megan Lloyd (Anglesea) Maxton, James Snowden, Rt. Hon. Philip
Gibbins, Joseph Messer, Fred Snowden, Thomas (Accrington)
Gibson, H. M. (Lancs, Mossley) Middleton, G. Sorensen, R.
Gillett, George M. Millar, J. D. Stamford, Thomas W.
Glassey, A. E. Milner, Major J. Stewart, J. (St. Rollox)
Gossling, A. G. Montague, Frederick Strauss, G. R.
Gray, Milner Morgan, Dr. H. B. Sullivan, J.
Greenwood, Rt. Hon. A, (Colne). Morris, Rhys Hopkins Taylor, R. A. (Lincoln)
Grenfell, D. R. (Glamorgan) Morris-Jones, Dr. J. H. (Denbigh) Tinker, John Joseph
Tout, W. J. Wedgwood, Rt. Hon. Josiah Wilson, C. H. (Sheffield, Attercliffe)
Townend, A. E. Wellock, Wilfred Wilson, J. (Oldham)
Turner, B. Welsh, James (Paisley) Wilson, R. J. (Jarrow)
Vaughan, D. J. West, F. R. Winterton, G. E. (Leicester, Loughb'gh)
Viant, S. P. Westwood, Joseph Wise, E. F.
Walker, J. White, H. G. Wood, Major McKezie (Banff)
Wallace, H. W. Whiteley, Wilfrid (Birm., Ladywood) Wright, W. (Rutherglen)
Wallhead, Richard C. Wilkinson, Ellen C.
Watkins, F. C. Williams, David (Swansea, East) TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—
Watson, W. M. (Dunfermline). Williams, Dr. J. H. (Llanelly) Mr. Paling and Mr. William Whiteley.
Watts-Morgan, Lt.-Col. D. (Rhondda) Williams, T. (York, Don Valley)

Question, "That those words be there inserted in the Bill," put, and agreed to.