House of Commons.

COMMONWEALTH

(British Commonwealth of Nations')

House of Commons. The Government was again saved from defeat by the Liberals. A motion to reduce Minister of Labor Tom Shaw's salary by $435, because the Government had failed to produce a constructive plan to deal with unemployment, was defeated by 244 to 210 votes. Fifteen Liberals and one Independent voted with the Conservatives. Tom had little intelligible to say. The most biting criticism came from a Liberal ex-Minister of Labor, Dr. Macnamara, who pointed out that the Labor Party had declared that it had all its plans ready three years ago. Continued he: "The fiery cross went from platform to platform-- work, not doles. Poor people said 'this, at least, is something like; you chaps have a try.' Then, this evening we came down to the House prepared to hear and cheer all these new developments that are going to hurry up the social millenium, and Mr. Shaw described how the Government had been carrying out our scheme. . . . He lifted a rabbit out of a hat, but it was not his rabbit. The rodent which last December was the most wretched, puny, skin-and-bone creature that ever escaped from a lethal chamber is today lifted from the hat with ostentatious pride and self-satisfaction."

P: A blind Member of Parliament rose to move the second reading of a bill to make blind people of 30 or over eligible for old-age pensions. Hardly had he sat down when there arose a War-maimed ex-warrior to move the second reading of a bill to make compulsory the employment by business firms of a fixed percentage of disabled ex-service men. The House gave second reading to both bills.