DISSOLUTION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 681, 4 December 1909, Page 5

DISSOLUTION.

■i-> ■ : v,v,. ":. +:■ .'.;' ■ ' ■.'■ MR; ASQUITH ON THE LORDS. ! LIBERAL MAJORITY, i I ' REFERENDUM THEORY RIDICULED. (Rec. December' 3, 10.20 p.m.)! London, December 3. The House of Commons was thronged from floor to ceiling when the Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, niove<l his motion 'dealing with tho action of he House of Lords in refusing to pass the Budget till it has,been submitted to the judgm'ont of. the people. . The Chamber was lined with rows upon rows of eager and attentive faces. The motion, of which Mr. Asquith bad previously given notice, was as under:— . ' That the action of the House of Lords in refusing to pass into law tno' financial provision made by the House of Commons for the service of • 'the year was a breach of the Constituell an< * a usurpation of tho rights ■ <■■ of the House of Commons. The appearance of Mr. Asquith was the sig. nal for deafening Ministerial cheers, his'followers rising to do him honour. Mr. Balfour, in turn, was enthusiastically acclaimed by. the Unionists. His attendance was . unexpected, owing to his .having sustained a slight' chill] and Jjis arrival stimulated his followers'to a high' pitch of excitement. ..,.-' The debate was ' comparatively- short.- Mr. Asquith's motion, was carried by. 115 votes, the voting being:— '. i - ■'■ For the resolution ...'.....„..„„.„..... 349 I . Against the resolution ..................... 234' Government majority ......„.„„. '.-'115.. Prime Minister's Speech. ; • Mr. Asquith, in a grave and earnest speech, declared that the circumstances were unparalleled in the history of Parliament. Herecalled with marked emphasis the foot that the. House of Commons alone was addressed in the Speech from the Throne in February, when it was vited to make provision for the heavy additional ■ expenditure due. to social reform and national defence. The history of the grant of the whole ways and means for the 6upply and service of the year, had been intercepted and nullified by;a body admittedly having no power to increase or diminish a single tax or to substitute; an alternative for one, ' ■'.'■■'•' ; : l

. , Amid a storm of Liberal and Labour cheers, ■ the Prime Minister remarked that the House 1 of-Commons would ha ' unworthy of its '-'past '. if-it allowed another day to pass -without mak- , ing it clear that it does not,mean to.brook,the greatest .indignity,>and most arrogant usurpai tion to which it had ever, in Sho last two'centuriea been asked to submit He laid stress on the confusion, embarrassment, loss of'revenue, aid increase of the country's indebtedness that' would result from the action of the House,of Lords, and the consequent. necessity of,restoring, the borrowing'powers i conferred by the Appropriation Act.-. He expressed latecr.on a hope that tho ultimate irrecoverable loss.to;the State would not bo-very great. ,;. Only One Course Open. ■ i , .MWAsquith scouted the.'suggestion-that tho House of Commons should;stoop, to .the humiiiationof presenting an amended 'Budget for 'tho criticism and sanction- of tho House of Lords. He continued;—' .-„ - ■•■■ ;,::,-; r There is only one course open with- / out breaking' the law or sacrificing the.:,'.'■' constitutional principle. That is to ad-, vise—as we have advised—the Crown-to dissolve Parliament at the earliest pos-, , sible momont.' His Majesty the King-< ■ has been graciously pleased to accept •-• ;' bur- adv|ce. ';''''' .-'.-v"-*-..; r "'-\' ';.'': : This announcement; by the'Prime"'Minister was ■ greeted with prolonged cheers from both sides of,tho House.,' ■„', .Continuing, Mr.-, Asquith/: said ;that, if the Government was returned to power, its "'first' duty' would be. to reiinpos'e all the .taxes and duties recently voted. -/Dwelling upon the;. Constitution,' he remarked that the great:bulk oj constitutional ;alid .- practice' rested upon custom, usage, and convention, not'on tht barren''letter of tho law,./: .' - ~-;' i'. "auaintcsf Invention of the. Day." ; ; He.brushed aside,the argument that the Bill was not really,, a financial one, and asserted that therewas'not a clause-in it that was' not -connected rwith the primary purposes- of revenue. He added: ■ . .;• ;-. ■ ' I emphatically protest ; against the'.■ novel theory that tho Bill Is not boing ■[ rejected, but is merely referred to the people. If such a 'claim and such a ./precedent are admitted, no Liberal : Government will be safe. .The conver- \ sion of tho Houso of Lords into'a pie- ' . biscitary organ is one ,of the quaintest Inventions of the day.; The presumption always Is that the House; of Com- ' -..'.' mons, is freely chosen by the people, ,: -and represents the people's .will. There is,no such presumption regarding the House of Lords. Mr. Asquith r admitted. parenthetically that' the presumption in tho case of tie: House-of Commons, ought to. ; be strengthened: by the shortening of the duration of Parliament (at present 6even years),, and by a more frequent contact,with the electorates. ■'.'■':. •'•:■:• In conclusion, the Prime Minister asked-the House and the constituencies to declare that the organ; and voice of a free people is. to'be found in the elected representatives 'of the' nation. . -.- .-'.:■■■

Mr; Balfour Upholds Lords' Power to Reject. .Mr. Balfour oriticised the avoidable 1 finance arrangements of tho Government, which were inconveniencing ;trade. He taunted the: Gov- , ernment on having a passion: for: abstraot motions, which neither hurt nor '. encouraged,' and did not frighten anyone; but this resolution nasfa gross misrepresentation. . it ignored the fact that the House of Commons had, in. the very original resolution on which all its claims were based, gratuitously admitted in terms that thoHouse of Lords had a right to reject'a Pinance Bill, though not to initiate or amend financial legislation. He hoped that'the exercise of this right of, rejection by the House of ,-; 'Lords would be rare,'but would never be aban-' doned. ' '•;": "TEE' TIMES'" VIEW. ■'■'-■'.''',' : /'■'' '''■."■;.■'■'''•: London, December 2. Eef erring to the motion of which the; Prime Minister,. Mr. Asquith, has given notice in'the House of Commons—"That the action of the 'Hous'e of Lords in refusing to pass into law tho financial provision made by the House, of Commons for the servico of the year, was a breach of the Constitution, and a usurpation of the rights of:the House of Commons "—"Tho Times" declares'' that the motion embodies the doctrine of the last four years. It. goes much. beyond any previous assertion of, privileges, and, by implication,, denies the powci or right of the Lords to have a voice in anj legislation tacked to the Budget. "The Times" argues, that it was,only incidentally that tho Lords refused supplies this year. What really has been dont| is to refer'to the country a quantity of legislation involving novel principles, denyiag the right of appeal to the courts of law, and establishing an' expensive bureaucracy with 'arbitrary : inquisitorial powers. -, ! •".'. ."■■ ELECTION APPEALS. ; -' '; ;: :■■,-'. ■'■'' :... -London, December 2. .'' In connection with tho present political crisis, a National Liberal Federation" manifesto states;.that the issues* involved • are. as' grave fa'any in tho lifetimei of tho 'oldest.voter;•'.The victory of the Tory, party, would involve the degradation of .the Commons Vnd the. aggrandisement of; the Lordsi and a return' to - with;. Its inevitable, taws on f nodi.

; The electors, the manifesto declares, will have . to decide whether they wish' to govern themselves or bo govorncd by a fowhundred ■hereditary poors, who, havo thrown the' Constitution into the melting-pot in order ' to shift ■ tho burden from wealth,' land, and' liquor' to food and necessaries. ■ ■ ' Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, in a message to a Tariff demonstration' at Shoreditch, said ho was counting on the democracy of the East End to help-in tho great struggle before tho ■ country. '.'■'..■'■, Tho Opposition newspapers comment on tho rise m British investment securities, which they hold is in consequence of the House of Lords' action. : J-*L ,vtLS cabled' yesterday that Consols/were at .£B2 18s. 9d„ n rise of 85..-9 d..since last week.]. ■'•'..■,'• LETTER PROM CHANCELLOR' OP THE EXCHEQUER, : (By Telegraph-Press Association.) , ' _ ''■■■:• !.'' Dunedin, Decembor 3. ,J.he Trades and Labour Council received a Jotter from Mr. Lloyd-George, Chancellor ol the Exchequer, thanking thorn, for their message of encouragement regarding the Budget proposals. . ,