The debate on the motion of censure proposed by Sir Robert Reid in reference to the Army Stores scandal did not prove nearly as lively as was expected. Willingly or unwillingly the Prime Minister had' granted all that was asked of him in the matter of an inquiry. He had agreed not only to appoint a Royal Commission, but to introduce a Bill to endow it with all the powers needed to make it a thoroughly judicial body, able to compel the attendance of witnesses and to administer an oath the infraction of which would carry with it the full penalties of perjury. The scope of the inquiry, too, has been made ae wide s it possibly could. The commissioners may sit in judgment on contractors, military and civil servants, Cabinet Ministers—anybody who may be involved in the scandals. Therefore even those Cnionists who feel most strongly that the Government must be held io some measure to blame for the existence of the system which rendered such scandals possible, had a very good excuse for taking the view that no one ought to be censured until the result of the fuller inquiry is known, As a consequence there was no cross-voting. All the Liberals and Nationalists voted for the vote of censure, and all the Consorvatives and Liberal Unioniste—including ing* the " Freefooders"—agaiust it. There were no deliberate abstentions, and th Government majority was 74—which is just about what they can now demand on paper.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.