Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

accordance with the training scheme and who would be eligible for smallholdings. Norfolk County Council had a dearth of land available for distribution, so that the ex-soldiers were being thrown back on their savings, with the result that, when they did receive their land, they had no capital with which to set up their businesses. Replying for the government, Sir Robert Sanders stonewalled somewhat but said that the Council would be urged to expedite the provision of smallholdings. Captain Falcon criticised the government again when it dropped the Agriculture Bill in September 1921 stating that, as a purely agricultural constituency, East Norfolk would have benefited greatly from the adoption of the Bill. At the end of 1921 Falcon found himself returning to the scene of his childhood on official business. He was awarded the honour of unveiling the war memorial at Horstead, following which he addressed the crowd and a bugler played The Last Post and Reveille . His younger brother, Major Harry Falcon, was in command of the party of over forty ex-servicemen who were present at the ceremony. A second election, 1922 The coalition government of Liberals and Conservatives did not survive the duration of the 1918 parliament and, in 1922, the two parties stood in opposition to each other as well as the Labour Party. Activity to unseat Captain Falcon started early, with the NFU selecting Mr James Wright to run as an agricultural candidate and the Liberals adopting Mr Hugh Seely, who declared himself to be a plain, straightforward Liberal and a believer in free trade. Captain Falcon was busy in Parliament in the first half of 1922, being involved in a plethora of issues, but with the problems of agriculture taking up much of his time as usual. In his absence from his constituency, he was defended by party workers against criticism from the NFU, and Sir John Green stated that, as the honorary secretary of the Agricultural Commission of the House of Commons, he could testify to all the good work being done in the field of agriculture by Falcon. Returning to speak in Norfolk, Captain Falcon said that the political crisis had been going on for some years and would continue regardless of the date of the next election. Personally, he At Westminster 47