V. THE BRITISH EMPIRE

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.—The Lloyd George Coalition Ministry, although it has been vigorously criticized and even sometimes defeated in the House of Commons on matters of small importance, has been able to retain control of the government throughout the period under review. There has been much speculation as to when a general election would be called, but until the end of June no action was taken in this matter. Only a few changes in the cabinet occurred. On July 14 Dr. Christopher Addison, who had formerly been Minister of Health and more recently Minister Without Portfolio, resigned from the cabinet. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr. Addison contended that the hasty abandonment of his housing plans by the government on the ground of economy was a betrayal of solemn pledges to the people. Mr. Lloyd George replied that time would be given to the new Minister, Sir Alfred Mond, to put the housing schemes on a more business-like footing. On October 15 Sir Eric Geddes resigned as Minister of Transport. While this ministry wound up its business the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Mr. Neal, was in charge of the department. The publication in London on March 8 of a message from the Government of India recommending a revision of the Sèvres Treaty (cf. supra, p. 17) in order to satisfy Mohammedan feeling in India caused Lloyd George to request the immediate resignation of Edwin S. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, who had authorized the publication. The Prime Minister claimed that the action of Mr. Montagu violated the fundamental principle of collective cabinet responsibility, since the cabinet had not been informed relative to the letter before its publication. In a speech before his constituents Mr. Montagu defended the course he had followed and declared that the Prime Minister's statement relative to the violation of cabinet responsibility was merely a pretext and that the actual reason for his dismissal was the Prime Minister's desire to placate the Unionist "die hards" whose opposition to him was of long standing. As a successor to Mr. Montagu the Prime Minister selected Viscount Peel, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Transport.-Probably the most serious cabinet crisis of Mr. Lloyd George's administration occurred early in March. For some time there had been considerable dissatisfaction with the Coalition on the part of certain Unionists lead by Sir George Younger, Chairman of the National Unionist Association, and when the Unionist leader in a speech ventured to criticize the terms upon which the Prime Minister and Mr. Chamberlain had agreed to cooperate in the next general election, Mr. Lloyd George in a conversation with Mr. Chamberlain made it clear that his position as head of the Government would become intolerable if these criticisms from responsible

Unionists continued. If such things should happen again he would resign. The Prime Minister's Unionist colleagues at once came to his support, both Sir Arthur Balfour and Lord Birkenhead making strong pleas for the continuance of the Coalition. However, the Unionist party held a meeting attended by more than two hundred members of the House, who declined to pass a pro-Coalition resolution and a vote of confidence in Unionist leaders in the cabinet. The situation was such that before going to the Genoa conference (cf. supra, p. 11) the Prime Minister demanded a vote of confidence from the House of Commons. Although the resolution was not couched in terms as broad as the Prime Minister might have desired, the majority in its favor was substantial, 372 voting for the Government motion and 94 against it.

From the general election in December, 1918, to the end of 1921, there occurred sixty parliamentary by-elections. As a result the Liberals gained four seats and lost one; Labor gained nine seats and lost two; Independents gained three seats; the Coalition lost fifteen seats and gained two. During the first half of 1922 Labor made three additional gains; the Liberals, one; and the Conservatives, three. The Coalition retained three seats for which contests were held.-The final results of the London County Council elections were made known early in March. The new Council consists of 82 Municipal Reformers, 26 Progressives and 16 Laborites. The former Council contained 68 Municipal Reformers, 39 Progressives and 16 Laborites. There were 98 Municipal Reform candidates, 50 Progressive candidates and 96 Labor candidates. The outstanding feature of the election was the defeat of the Labor-Socialist attack upon the London Government.

Parliament was in session until the middle of November except for an adjournment from the middle of August to the middle of October. The Finance Act of 1921 continued various customs duties and increased medicine duties. An additional duty of 12s. 6d. was placed on sparkling wines. Certain additional duties imposed on cigars by the Finance Act of 1920 were repealed. The income and super-tax rates remained the same (cf. last RECORD, p. 61). During the debates on the super-tax the Government was defeated by a small majority when a Coalition Unionist's amendment was carried. The Government made no move to resign. The total supplementary estimates submitted by the Government to Parliament in the fall amounted to £89,000,000. Of this sum £36,000,000 was for liquidation of railway and canal agreements and £15,000,000 for the Corn Production Guarantee. The Corn Production Acts of 1917 and 1920 were repealed because of the heavy drain on the Treasury and because Ministers admitted that they had not been successful in promoting production. They declined to continue indefinitely to subsidize one industry.

The Housing Act of 1921 extended the provisions of the Act of 1919 which prescribed the conditions under which grants may be made to persons building houses, and dealt with the execution of works by the local authorities in connection with housing schemes.-The Licensing Act, regulating the sale of liquors, fixed permitted hours of sale and prescribed the strength of spirits. - The National Health Insurance Act provided that the sum to be retained by the Minister of Health under the Insurance Act of 1911 out of each weekly contribution should in the case of a male insured person be 2 2/9 pence instead of 23 pence, and, in the case of a woman, 14% pence instead of 1 11/12 pence. The amount to be carried to the Contingencies Fund and the Central Fund under the Act of 1918 was placed at 5/9 of a penny in the case of a man and % of a penny in case of a woman, instead of 2/3 of a penny and 1⁄2 penny respectively. Another Act provided for the temporary extension of the period during which persons unemployed may remain insured under the general provisions of the National Health Insurance Acts.-The Public Health Act of 1921 made further provision with respect to the arrangements by local authorities for the treatment of tuberculosis by authorizing councils to make provision for after-care. - The Railways Act provided for the regrouping of British railway lines into six large systems. A new rate tribunal was created and provisions were made for the establishment of councils to settle disputes regarding wages and working conditions. The Safeguarding of Industries Act provided for the protection of key industries and the prevention of dumping. One section provided that there be charged, on goods specified in the schedule, customs duties equal to one-third of the value of the goods. Goods consigned from and grown, produced or manufactured in the British Empire were exempted. The section on dumping related to goods manufactured outside of the United Kingdom and sold at prices below the cost of production or at prices which because of depreciation in value of foreign currency were below the prices at which similar goods could be manufactured in the United Kingdom.-Several unemployment insurance acts were passed. One of them provided that the unemployment benefit should be at the weekly rate of 155. for men and 12s. for women. It also raised the rate of contribution. Another act made provision for payments to unemployed workers' dependents.

The Imperial Conference which convened in June (cf. last RECORD, p. 64) lasted until August 5. The meeting was generally considered a success in that it brought about a better understanding among the component parts of the Empire. The following resolution was adopted: "The Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, having carefully considered the recommendation of the Imperial War Conference of 1917 that a special Imperial Conference

should be summoned as soon as possible after the war to consider the constitutional relation of the component parts of the Empire, have reached the following conclusions: (a) Continuous consultation, to which the Prime Ministers attach no less importance than the Imperial War Conference of 1917, can only be secured by a substantial improvement in the communications between the component parts of the Empire. Having regard to the constitutional developments since 1917, no advantage is to be gained by holding a constitutional conference; (b) The Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions and the Representatives of India should aim at meeting annually, or at such longer intervals as may prove feasible; (c) The existing practice of direct communication between the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, as well as the right of the latter to nominate Cabinet Ministers to represent them in consultation with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, are maintained." Recommendations relative to imperial defense were deferred until after the Washington Conference.

Parliament was opened on February 7. The King's speech commended highly the accomplishments of the Washington Conference as inaugurating a new era in international relations. There were a number of divisions during the debate on the reply to the King's speech. In the House of Lords Lord Londonderry's amendment demanding the maintenance of the integrity of the area given to the Northern Government of Ireland was defeated by the Government, but its majority fell to 7. In the House of Commons the Labor attack on the Government because of its alleged failure to deal with unemployment was defeated on a division by 270 votes to 78. Mr. Asquith challenged the Government on the ground of its extravagance, which had "imposed on the country a crushing burden of taxation". He criticized the Government for withholding the Geddes report on possible "cuts" in expenditures and intimated that the Government would not follow the suggested reductions. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir R. Horne, admitted that not all the suggestions of the report could be followed, but assured the House that a decrease in expenditures amounting to £40,000,000 would be possible. On the division 92 members voted for the amendment while 241 sustained the ministry. The amendment censuring the Government's India policy and directed against Mr. Montagu's administration was defeated by 248 votes to 64.

Last fall, in view of the pressing demand for further economies in the public service, a commission with Sir Eric Geddes at its head was established to make recommendations relative to the reduction of the estimates for the year 1922-3. The commission was asked to suggest reductions amounting to £100,000,000. Among the largest cuts recommended were the following: navy, £21,000,000; army, £20,

000,000; and education, £18,000,000. Early in March Sir Robert Horne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced to the House of Commons the extent to which the Government would adopt the economy proposals of the Geddes Committee. Instead of a reduction of £18,000,000 for education the Government would accept a reduction of £6,500,000. On the navy the Government would save £10,000,000; and on the army £17,000,000. During March the estimates for various services submitted to Parliament indicated a budget of approximately £900,000,000 distributed as follows: army, £62,300,000; navy, £64,883,700; air, £10,500,000; civil services, £383,551,648; and Consolidated Fund services £370,000,000. These estimates were £145,000,000 less than the original estimates of the year previous. — In his budget speech on May 1 Sir Robert Horne announced a reduction of the standard income tax rate from 6s. to 5s. in the pound; he also promised lower postal rates and lower duties on tea, cocoa, coffee and chicory, as well as a diminution of the assessment rates on land. The Chancellor stated that the external debt had been reduced by £170,000,000; the floating debt by £246,000,000; and the maturing debt by £260,000,000; and £88,000,000 had been added to the reduction of the deadweight debt. On the basis of the proposed new tax law he estimated a total revenue of £910,755,000, of which Customs and Excise were expected to yield £273,000,000 and special receipts, £90,000,000. Mr. Asquith in criticizing the budget proposals called the Chancellor's scheme "a gamble", since, he said, the surplus was an artificial one created by borrowing in order to make remissions in taxation.

As usual, Parliament was concerned chiefly with financial affairs from March to June, but a few important non-financial measures were enacted. On the last of March the Royal Assent was given to the Irish Free State (Agreement) Bill (cf. infra, p. 72). — Early in June the King signed the Empire Settlement Act which authorized the Secretary of State for Colonies to formulate schemes for the development of land settlement and for facilitating settlement in or migration to any part of the Empire. For the promotion of these schemes the sum of £1,500,000 was provided for the current year. This was to be raised to £3,000,000 in subsequent years.-On June 1 James Arthur Balfour, recently made the Earl of Balfour, formally took his seat in the House of Lords amid impressive ceremonies.-The attempt of Lady Rhondda, a peeress in her own right, to assert the right of women to sit in the House of Lords was overruled in the Committee on Privileges on May 9 by a vote of 20 to 4. The decision affected some twenty women holding peerages.

The long series of negotiations between representatives of England and Ireland which began early in 1921 (cf. last RECORD, p. 66) at last bore fruit. On June 24 Lloyd George addressed a personal letter to Eamon De Valera inviting him to come to London to attend a