Whip, moved a motion in the House 9f Lords today, at the request of the Leader of the Opposition, calling, attention to the "conduct of the war generally, and particularly to the operations in Norway.
Opening with a tribute to the gatlantey and devotion to duty of the services in Scandinavia, Lord Stra-olga made particular mention of the magnificent quality" of the airmen from the Dominions, The Labour peer contended that there was considerable uneasiness about the Government': conduct of affairs, and still, more about the possibility of their mending their ways. The Norwegian operas tions, he" said, were the symptoms of a disease which must. be treated guiekly, or it would become chronic, The disease. Lord Strabolst said, wat that there. were defects both in the methods and personnel of the Gover ment.
He! and his party. he continued, agreed that "we were perfectly right in immediately sending what help we could. But the German plan of at~ tacking Norway in the World War had been known in detail for some years by' the combined General Staffs ud the three fliting services. The knowledge had "not percolated up= wards, and Mr. Chamberlain was able to ay that we were taken completely. by surprise, The fact was that the men at the top were s0 occupied with departmental work that they were not free to devote their minds the prosecution of the war."
Trondheim Was Key Lord Strabolgi criticized the Gov ernment for not realizing quickly enough that Trondheim. was the key to the whole situation, and then not making a direct attack on the port, which "of course would have succeeded," The present opera tions in Narvik were of great fu portance, Other plans must be formulated and the Germans cleared out of Norway. He himself considered that there should be a select com= mittee of inquiry into the campaign, The Marquis of Crewe, Leader of the Opposition Librals, said he re~ agnized that the Germans had had to pay a very considerable price for their success in Norway. He Imagined that their loss was probably greater than the monthly average of Germans killed in France during 1916 or 1917, He hoped that the debates would prove salutary as showing that the ountey was not altogether satisfied with the way the war was" being carried on.
Opposition Tactics Following a meeting lasting 1% hours this morning, the Parliamentary Labour Party decided to have a devi-sion on the motion for adjournment 2 challenge to the Government': attitude towards the prosecution the war. Their alternative method would have been to propose a direct vole of censure, but in that case many Ministerialists, who would just vote against the adjournment, would not be willing to vote for a direct censure. The Inbour procedure, therefore, will probably draw the maximum number Of votes against the Govertnent Toss, as is hardly probable, Mr. Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, announces that the Gov ernment will consider any challenge on adjournment as a question of con The first reaction of Min malcontents to the Labour decision ix a tendency to fight shy of joining the Opposition in. the division. The feeling fs accentuated by the fact tht the Government. is expected to. indicate early today that they will treat. the division as a question confidence, Liberals will join Labour the division lobby—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.