SCOTTISH HOME RULE

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 209, 28 May 1908, Page 7

SCOTTISH HOME RULE

B!H IN TBE COMMONS. A SYMPATHETIC RECEPTION. STRONGLY OPPOSED BY MR. BALFOUR. IV rKi.EGß.U'H—riir.sa association —copvuigui 1 (Rcc. May 27, 10.27 p.m.) London, Slay 27. Tho Houso of Commons decided, by 257 votes to 102, to give leave to. Mr. V. D. Pirie, j Liberal member for Aberdeen North, to introduco a - Bill for tho establishment of a -j legislative body in Scotland. , Mr. Pirie declared- that the Houso of Commons actod as a millstono to Scottish national development. r Mr. Balfour, Leader of the Opposition, ( hotly opposed the scheme, which was, ho j said, exceptionally crude and calculated to destroy tho authority of the House of Commons. » , \ Tho Bill was read a first time. j " Tho Times " protests against such legislative levity. j SUMMARY OF MR. PIRIE'S BILL. The Bill which Mr. Pirie prepared last year is an interesting document. It proposes to establish a subordinate Scottish Legislature to be called "the Scots Parliament" or "the Parliament." "A Lord High Commissioner, appointed by the King* shall bo His Majesty's representative in Scotland." Tho members of the Seot3 Parliament shall_ be returned by tho i Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland for the time being, and tho constituencies shall return to the Scots Parliament the same number of members as., tlioy return to tho'-Houso of Commons. Bills passed by the Soots Parliament shall bo forwarded to the Iting-in-Coun- , oil,' who may, within six weeks from dato of . passage, exercise a veto. The executive power in Scotland shall continue vested in the King.. There shall also bo a Privy Council to aid and advise in the govornment of Scotland, the members of the Council to be chosen and summoned by the Lord High Commissioner. Until tho King otherwise directs the seat of Government shall be Edinburgh! The contribution of Scotland to tho expenditure of' tho' government of the United Kingdom shall be a fixed proportion of that expenditure, and this proportion shall, in tile first instance, bo tho average, as near as may be, of tho sums contributed by Scotland to the expenditure of the United Kingdom as a. whole (luring the three financial yoars immediately preceding tho coming into operation of this Act. Thereafter tho proportion shall ba rovised every fivo years by tho Treasury of tho United Kingdom. The Scots Parliament shall have power only to impose taxation within Scotland in order to the raisin"; of a revenue for Scottish purposes. The Soots Parliament 'hall, subjcct to the Constitution, have power to iriako laws for Scotland with respect to: Tho establishment and tenuro of executive and administrative offices, and the appointment and payment of executive anil administrative officers; local government and municipal institutions, public health, criminal law, the administration of justice, police, prisons, marriage, divorce, and education, hospitals, charities, and asylums, lunacy, railways, fisheries, canals and har-boui-s; also with tho holding, acquisition, disposition, and descent of land, tho regulation of labour in factories and mines, the acquisition by any public. authority of any l , property on just terms from any person for any purpose in respect of which the Parliament has power to make' laws; the regulation of trade m intoxicating liquors, but not so as( to include the power to imposo any duty or .tax oil tho sale of such liquors; the Church, as by' law established, and. its endowments. Mr. Thos. Shaw, Lord Advocate for Scotland, lias spoken in favour of homo rule for Scot-, land, and has expressed the opinion—without committing himself to detail—that tho Bill would receive a favourable hoaring in tho Commons. Mr. Keir Hardie, and Sir. Wm. O'Brien havo expressed favourable opinions.