The Hon. Mr. Thompson’s Maiden Speech

THE Hon. Mr. Thompson in his maiden speech began by saying that he agreed with those Hon. Members who had said a resolution like Mr. Khaparde’s was one of the necessary forms of democracy, that is to say, that where exceptional powers were entrusted to the executive, if there was apprehension in the minds of the Hon. Members who claimed to represent the people that those powers had been abused it was their duty to call Government to render an account of its stewardship and it was the Government’s duty to lay its cards on the table as far as possible and to prove, as they could prove in this case, that the action against the Press had been action which was within the limits of those powers which had been entrusted to them. One would have thought after this that the Hon. member would have accorded his cordial support to the resolution. That surely was what consistency demanded, because the Government could only render an account of its stewardship before a committee such as the resolution suggested.