London, June 17.
The House of Commons gave a cordial welcome to the new Ministers fon the re-assembly of Parliament to-day after the Whitsun recess.
'The former Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, who is now Lord President of the. Council, relaxed for the first time in six years, sitting reposefully on the 'Treasury' bench, his eyes half closee. He had changed scote with his successor, Mr, Stanley Baldwin, who satin' the middle, with Mr. MacDonald beside fla.
The leader of the Labour Opposition, Mr. George Lansbury, twitted Mr." Baldwin on the duties of the new Ministers without portfolio (Mr. Anthony Eden and Lord Eustace Perey) and on the duties of the new Lord President of the Council.
Mr, Baldwin replied that Mr. Eden's appointment as Minister without portfolio for League of Nations affairs would materially strengthen Britain's contribution to world peace, while, in the case of Lord Eustace Perey, it was advantageous to have Ministers who could concentrate on policy without having departmental Of all the offices he had held, Mr. Baldwin continued, he had never had more work at less pay than he had had as Lord President of the Council (the position now held by Mr. Mac-Donald).
The House then settled down to routine business, Sir Herbert Samuel leader of the "Samuel Liberals, asked what progress had been made towards a European air pact, The new Foreign Secretaty, Sir Samuel Hoare, replied that the Government was giving the matter very careful consideration, fully realizing {ts extreme urgency. Various questions, both of principle and procedure, were involved, and inevitably required interchanges between the Powers concerned. In the cir cumstances, he thought it would be dotter not to enter into further details, The new Secretary of State for Air, Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, then dealt with the steps that would be taken to prevent profiteering during the "expansion of the Royal ore He announced that the Air Ministry had established comprehensive machinery involving consultation with the Treasury. This covered the whole range of the contracts involved and provided for the control of prices, The Ministry intended to ensure that no one received excessive profits The present situation In China was the subject of a brief statement by the Foreign Secretary, whose statement appeared in these columns yesterday—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.