Category: 100 Years Ago

20 FEBRUARY 1925

Yesterday’s bulletin regarding the King stated that progress, though slow, was satisfactory.

Progress was made with a number of measures in the House of Commons, including a Bill in respect of land purchase in Northern Ireland and the London Electricity Bill.

The Air Estimates for the coming financial year, amounting to £15,809,762, have been issued.

In the annual report on the British Army it is stated that, although the quality of the recruits has been maintained at a high standard, the physique of the youth of the nation has not yet recovered from the effects of war and post-war conditions; consequently during the year no fewer than 49,000 candidates for enlistment were rejected.

The Second Opium Conference at Geneva closed with the signing of an important Convention, which, in the view of M. Zahle, Denmark, the president, while not solving all the problems the Conference had to face, deals a blow at the drug evil.

Little progress was made at the Conference between the Council of the Mining Association and the full Executive of the Miners’ Federation. Mr Evan Williams emphasised the seriousness of the situation. Several Welsh collieries have shut down, and others are likely to follow.

At the Food Commission inquiry the evidence concerned the refusing of supplies of flour by millers to bakers who undercut the normal ruling price of bread.

Glasgow Town Council, despite the protests of the Socialist members, decided to confer the freedom of the city on Prince Henry on May 2.

19 FEBRUARY 1925

It is stated authoritatively that the King’s attack of bronchitis is pursuing a satisfactory course.

In the House of Lords it was stated that the number of telephones installed by the Post Office now averages about 1700 a month.

Sir John Gilmour, replying to questions in the House of Commons regarding the Clydebank evictions, said it was his desire and hope that moderate courses might be adopted on both sides until the Commission had completed its inquiries, and there had been reasonable opportunity of considering its report.

The second reading of the British Sugar Subsidy Bill was passed in the House of Commons. The Minister of Agriculture said the growing of beet was important from the point of view of employment and labour. Mr William Graham said his party would, in Committee, press for some form of Government control and ownership in this scheme.

Mr Preston, Unionist candidate for Walsall, has received a message from Mr Baldwin, in which he says that the menace of Socialism is ever present, and it is of paramount importance that Walsall should show at the election the continued firmness of the electorate that there shall be a long period of sound and constitutional government.

Sir L. Worthington Evans, Secretary for War, replying to a deputation on the question of the reconstruction of the Militia, undertook that the views presented to him would receive careful consideration.

The Food Commission heard evidence from several housewives, as well as on behalf of the Trade Union Congress. In the case of the latter, Sir Auckland Geddes expressed his disappointment at the small amount of help they had obtained from them.

18 FEBRUARY 1925

An official bulletin states that the King is suffering from bronchitis, due to influenza. His Majesty had a restless night on Monday, but his general condition is satisfactory.

The Earl of Oxford and Asquith took his seat in the House of Lords, the stately ceremony attracting considerable public interest.

The employment of disabled ex-Service men was discussed on a private member’s resolution in the House of Commons, and the Government was urged by members on both sides of the House to make further efforts to get industries interested in the employment of disabled men, and to get more firms on the King’s Roll.

The rotor ship Buckau docked at Grangemouth at the conclusion of her test voyage across the North Sea.

The French Cardinals have addressed a letter to M. Herriot protesting against the proposed withdrawal of the French Embassy to the Vatican.

A crisis has arisen in the Czecho-Slovakian Cabinet over the question of Church and State.

Russian Communists are alarmed at the seed shortage. The crop outlook is serious.

During evictions at Clydebank the police were stoned, and three arrests were made.

17 FEBRUARY 1925

The government’s proposals regarding safeguarding industries were discussed in the House of Commons, where a resolution of condemnation, moved by Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, was defeated by 335 to 146. The Prime Minister, in the course of the debate, denied that the method now proposed would be used as a means of bringing in Protection. He abided in perfect loyalty to the decision of the country.

With regard to the financial restoration of Franco, M. Herriot, speaking in the Chamber, said the government’s policy was a policy of a healthy currency, which alone would reduce the high cost of living and give France the necessary authority in international councils. He announced the suppression of the inquisitorial bordereau de coupons, and stated that the signature of an affidavit at French Consulates by holders of French bearer securities abroad would likewise be abolished.

The King is suffering from a feverish cold.

The report of the expert Commission which inquired into the condition of St. Paul’s cathedral is published. It states that no settlement of the foundations is taking place at the present time, but that building operations in the vicinity might alter the condition of the subsoil. The cracks and fissures in the masonry do not jeopardise the integrity of the dome structure, while any attempt to rebuild the piers would inevitably affect the foundations. Recommendations are made of necessary work to strengthen the piers and the dome.

In an interview on his return to London, Sir Robert Horne gave his impressions of his business tour in Burmah and India.

16 FEBRUARY 1925

There is fresh talk of a security pact which, beginning with the inclusion of France and Britain and the States on Germany’s frontiers, might be extended to include the Reich itself under pledge of non-aggression and in receipt of a guarantee for the protection of her eastern frontier.

In the House of Commons today there will be a debate on the Government’s policy in regard to the safeguarding of industries.

David Lloyd George, addressing a meeting of the Welsh National Liberal Federation at Newport, Mon., advocated the value of the roll of honour, to which, he said, there was the same glory in giving the mite as in giving a thousand pounds.

Mrs Philip Snowden, on her return from Canada, repeated her conviction that the late Government were the victims of the worst political leadership of modern times. She also criticised the Clyde group of Socialists, in reference to the attack on the vote for the Prince of Wales’s tour.

Me A. J. COOK, general secretary of the Miners’ Federation, speaking at Llanelly, made a violent attack on Mr Frank Hodges.

In the Walsall by-election the three candidates are prepared for great activity in the campaign proper, which begins this week. The Unionist candidate, Mr Preston, has much improved in health.

In the King’s replies to the addresses of Convocation mention is made of the housing problem and the necessity of increasing existing building resources.

15 FEBRUARY 1925

It was announced that between the years 1921 and 1923 that at least 590 children had been killed in the streets of Greater London.

It was announced that the Dowager Marchioness of Tweedale had died in London.

14 FEBRUARY 1925

Sir Kingsley Wood, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health, speaking in the House of Commons on the experiments in steel houses, said that in every contract for these houses there would be a fair wages clause inserted.

French comments on Mr Chamberlain’s statement regarding a security pact express the hope that Britain will be conscious of the realities of the hour. France, it is stated, will not refuse to consider any agreement which offers a guarantee of security.

The Speech from the Throne at the opening of the South African Parliament foreshadowed a heavy legislative programme, including Bills providing for a measure of self-government for South-West Africa, and dealing with South African nationality, electoral reform, and emergency powers Bills, wages regulation Bills, and measures for the control of the diamond trade and the uniform and direct taxation of natives.

The Second Opium Conference discussed and sustained the article of the draft convention which provides that any contracting party may authorise the supply to the public by chemists in urgent cases of tincture of opium, laudanum, and Dover powder.

Viscount Cecil of Chelwood spoke at Bournemouth on the evils of the opium habit, and gave details of the machinery devised at the Geneva Conference to watch and regulate the operation of the factories in which opium and other drugs were manufactured.

Mr Amery, speaking at Birmingham, said the Government appreciated that the nation expected attention to education, health, and every branch of social reform.

13 FEBRUARY 1925

The Prince of Wales, who will visit Southern Rhodesia in the summer, is due to arrive at Bulawayo on June 29, and concludes the tour on July 11 at Victoria Falls.

The mission of the Prince of Wales to South Africa and South America was strongly criticised by Scottish Socialist members in the House of Commons, on a vote of £2000 for the purposes of the tour. Mr Kirkwood, who was repeatedly interrupted and called to order, argued that the Prince would be better to make himself acquainted with working-class conditions in this country before undertaking that voyage. The vote was carried by a large majority.

Mr Wheatley, speaking in the House of Commons on housing experiments, said that in three months the Government had dissipated the good spirit prevailing in the building industry when the late Government left office. There was now a spirit of suspicion. Mr Neville Chamberlain, in reply, said he wanted to provide houses, and he was astonished at the persistent obstruction that came from the Labour party. He regarded the Weir houses as an emergency measure, and did not believe they would prejudice the building trade.

The Foreign Secretary, Mr Austen Chamberlain, asked in the House of Commons whether the Government were considering a new pact of alliance and security with France, said no negotiations for a separate pact with any country had been entered upon by the Government.

Dr Macnamara, opening his campaign as Liberal candidate in the Walsall by-election, said his party had suffered at the General Election for taking the right course. In its panic the country overdid it, and was now ripe for a great revival of Liberalism.

12 FEBRUARY 1925

The Earl of Onslow, replying to a question in the House of Lords regarding the proposed transfer of Swaziland and Bechnanaland to the Union of South Africa, said the Union Government did not intend to ask for the transfer of either territory at present.

The House of Commons adopted a resolution approving the possession by the Home Secretary of full authority to control alien immigration, and deprecating any weakening of the existing regulations, in view of the present shortage of work and of houses in this country.

Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Secretary for War, addressing the Council of County Territorial Associations, said the Territorial Army would be the sole means of expansion of the Army in time of war, and the Army Council were now considering the preparation of a scheme to be put into operation whenever the need for expansion took place.

Lord Sands, presiding in London at the annual meeting of the Carnegie Trust, reviewed the work of the past year.

Sir Richard Lodge has given to a Scotsman representative his impressions of American University methods and ideals, on his return from a visit to the United States and Canada.

Two new Royal Scottish Academicians, Mr George Houston and Mr Robert Hope, were elected at an Assembly of the Academy.

Abdel Fattah Amayat, a student of the Royal School of Law at Cairo, who with his brother Abdel Hamid, a student teacher, was arrested on the train going from Alexandria to Hamman on January 31, has admitted that he took part in the attack upon the late Sirdar on November 19, and has given the names of the other persons connected with the assassination, including his own brother.

11 FEBRUARY 1925

In the House of Lords, Marquis Curzon, replying to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who asked for information regarding the expulsion of the Ecumenical Patriarch from Constantinople, stated that in the opinion of His Majesty’s Government the dispute was one that ought to be settled by discussion and agreement between the two Governments concerned. They would use all their influence towards securing a peaceful solution by conciliation.

The second reading of the Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Bill, which was moved in the House of Commons by the Secretary for Scotland, was agreed to. A motion for rejection, moved by the Rev. James Barr, was defeated by 252 votes to 110. Sir John Gilmour said the Bill would open the way for the Union which was desired by both Churches, and, he believed, by the vast majority of the Scottish people.

At question time in the House of Commons the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries announced that he proposed to appoint a Departmental Committee to inquire into the conditions under which horses are exported to the Continent.

The Prime Minister, Mr Stanley Baldwin, has intimated to the Town Council of Dundee his willingness to accept the freedom of Dundee.

The German Chancellor, at Cologne, declared that the German Government was ready to negotiate with the Allies regarding the evacuation of the Cologne zone and promptly to remove all legitimate doubts on their part in respect of disarmament. Berlin would, however, refuse to let evacuation be made dependent on a settlement of the question of security.

Two persons were killed and nearly a hundred injured in a Communist-Roman Catholic riot at Marseilles. A well-known local priest was assaulted and badly beaten on leaving the Catholic League Conference.