Parliament's Week

(British Commonwealth of Nations)

Commons. In answer to questions from the Opposition, Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, told the House that "His Majesty's Government" intends to revert to a gold currency standard at the "earliest possible moment." He would not commit himself more definitely.

P: Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain, replying to Colonel Wedgwood (Liberal), made a statement on the British attitude toward the Geneva Protocol (TIME, Dec. 22). He announced that, owing to objections of the Dominions, who believe that the ideals of the Protocol should be realized progressively in a series of practical stages, he would be obliged to request the League of Nations for a further postponement of the Protocol question.

P: Semi-official circles had it that the naval estimates would not show the increase of $50,000,000 which Admiral Lord Beatty has demanded.

P: An additional appropriation of $10,000 (making the total $25,000) was requested by the Government for the Prince of Wales' forthcoming trip to South Africa and South America. The additional amount was made necessary by the acceptance of invitations from Chile and Uruguay. The appropriation was carried 295 votes to 87, majority of 208 but not before some of the Laborites Opposition had attacked the Prince's visits.

"Dave" Kirkwood (Clydeside Laborite) protested against "all the humbug that's going on." He thought the Prince should visit the workshops and mines and acquaint himself with the real conditions of workingmen's lives, not with those that had been prepared for him to see.

The Liberals and such noted Laborites as ex-Premier Ramsay MacDonald, ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden, Sidney Webb, William Adamson, J. H. Thomas, voted with the Government.