§ Mr. SPEAKERI have to acquaint the House that this House has this day attended His Majesty in the House of Peers, and His Majesty was pleased to make a Most Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament, of which for greater accuracy I have obtained a copy, which is as followeth:
§ My Lords and Members of the House of Commons:
§ My relations with foreign Powers continue to be friendly.
§ The maintenance of world peace does not cease to give My Government the most anxious concern. They will continue to make the support and extension of the authority of the League of Nations a cardinal point of their policy. They earnestly trust that the general work of the Disarmament Conference may be actively resumed in a political atmosphere more favourable to the attainment of definite results. In the meantime, strenuous efforts will be made to secure international agreement on such matters as are capable of separate treatment.
§ The Report of the Joint Committee of both your Houses on Indian Constitutional Reform is about to be placed in your hands, and it will be the duty of My Ministers to lay before you their legislative proposals for the future government of India. I pray that both your Houses, upon whom now rests the responsibility of deciding these issues, may approach the task which lies before them with the single aim of furthering the well-being of My Empire.
§ Members of the House of Commons
§ The Estimates for the public services will be laid before you in due course.
§ My Lords and Members of the House of Commons:
§ Although factors adverse to the full resumption of international trade still exist, it is My earnest hope that the coming year will be marked by a continuance of the spirit of confidence and enterprise which has enabled this country to take the lead in world recovery.
8§ The condition of the shipping industry is receiving the anxious consideration of My Ministers. The serious position of tramp shipping calls for early treatment, and you will be invited to consider a measure for providing temporary assistance to this section of the industry.
§ My Ministers, in conjunction with the local authorities, are pressing forward with the task of clearing the slums in regard to which the national conscience has been so deeply stirred. So great a measure of progress is being attained that My Ministers are able to contemplate the next step in the process of improving the housing conditions of the people. A Bill will accordingly be submitted to you for preventing overcrowding and making provision for the rehousing of those found to be living in overcrowded conditions.
§ A similar Bill applying to Scotland will also be introduced.
§ A Measure will be submitted to you to assist certain areas in which prolonged unemployment has created problems of an exceptional character. A Bill will also be laid before you to amend the law relating to the supply of electricity.
§ My Ministers have for some time past had under consideration the further development and acceleration of Imperial air communications, and Measures to this end will be brought forward in due course.
§ The condition of Agriculture and the reorganisation of the herring industry are closely engaging the attention of My Ministers.
§ Measures will be introduced, if time permits, for the control of building development along the main thoroughfares, for providing better housing of the Metropolitan Police, and other subjects.
§ I pray that, under the blessing of God, the outcome of your deliberations may advance the happiness and wellbeing of My People and the peace of the world.