THE COLONIES AND THE LORDS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 771, 21 March 1910, Page 6

THE COLONIES AND THE LORDS.

'■ o Ik the specch by Lord Lansdowne upon which we commented on Saturday there is a point of so much interest to the colonies that it requires some special notice. Ono of the Rosebery Committee's recommendations respecting the reform of the Upper House was that seats should be provided for delegates from the self-governing Dominions. This Lord Lansdowne regarded as "picturesque and' attractive, but _ impracticable": "Surely an Imperial Parliament was one thing /and -a. Second Chamber another. That settles the question quite conclusively, we think; for the Second Chamber of the United Kingdom is as purely a domestic House as the Australian Senate or our own Legislative Council, and if the colonies should be represented in the House of Lords, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand should also each have representation in each other's Upper Houses. Lord Lansdowne's criticisms, however, will probably have the result of promoting some - further thought throughout the Empire upon the prospects of an Imperial Parliament. There have been manv suggestions as to the shape that such a Parliament should take, but it is unnecessary to discuss these just now. It is worth while observing, however, that the objections which Lord . Lansdowne, taking the colonial point of view, perceives in the Rosebery Commit-' tee's recommendation apply in greater or less degree to a formal , Parliament of the Empire. There is , nothing very impracticable, seeing : that a closer corporate existence is ' i

the main object of Imperialists everywhere, in a Federal Parliament for the Empire on the model of the Australian Parliament—a Legislature in which all the Imperial Statcß would have proportionate representation and in which would reside supreme power in certain definite fields. But it would certainly be against the interests of the colonies to send away their best men, as they would have to do if such a Parliament were established; and the representation of the colonies would be too small to be of much use. New Zealand, for example, would, on a population basis, have only five representatives in a House of 300. Since the soundest projects are in general ' those which have been agreed to—assuming that sincerity and candour have dominated the settlement—after a sharp presentation of real difficulties, and dangers to be avoided, Lord Lansdowne's criticisms will be of service to those who believe in the possibility of an Imperial Federal Legislature.