NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 21 February 1925
21 FEBRUARY 1925
Yesterday’s bulletin in regard to the King’s illness stated that in spite of a somewhat restless night, His Majesty was making slow progress.
A private member’s Bill designed to remove the restrictions of the 1918 Act and to grant women the franchise at 21 years of age, as in the case of men, was rejected in the House of Commons by 220 votes to 153.
The Earl of Oxford and Asquith, speaking at Manchester Reform Club, said it was a caricature of representation that a party which had polled three million votes should have only some forty members in Parliament. He criticised the Government’s plans for the safeguarding of industries.
Mr Ramsay MacDonald, speaking at Swindon, referred to the Clydeside opposition to the payment of expenses in connection with the Prince of Wales’s tour, and said they were not going to cure the cause of the poor widow by being mean, small-minded, and petty.
Mr Clynes, speaking at Hornchurch, referring to the visit of the Prince of Wales to South Africa, said it was as right for Parliament to vote public money for it as to vote money for the railway expenses of M.P.’s between Westminster and their constituencies.
The Prince of Wales, the Prime Minister, and several members of the Cabinet attended the annual Civil Service dinner in London.
In the Prussian Diet a vote of confidence in the new Marx Cabinet was rejected by 221 to 215 votes, and the Government resigned. There were scenes of uproar in the Diet when Herr Heilmann, a Socialist Deputy, charged leading members of the Right parties with acts of corruption.
