PARLIAMENT BILL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2664, 8 January 1916, Page 5

PARLIAMENT BILL

DEBATE IN THE LORDS By Telegraph—Press Association—Oopyriglit (Rec. January "7, 8.40 p.m.) London, January 6. In the House of Lords, Lord Crewe, , discussing the Parliament and Registration Bill, said it was based on the principle, that tho majority of the people did not want a general election. Some members 'of /the House of Commons were demanding a more strictly National Government, but an election would not be useful for that purpose, but would - bo merely an opportunity for a welter of personalities directed •against individuals; Lord St. Aldwyn commented that tho Parliament Act created an absurd sifcua-.. tion. The House of Lords was now able to determine the lifo of the House of Commons. Viscount Bryce pointed out that tlio Bill came as an agreed measure, and it would bo unfortunato to throw it back into tho cauldron of agitation and party differences. Lord Lanadowno said nobody could possibly desire an election to be forced on a reluctant country. The Lords would not stand in the way when the timo came and the people dosired a change of Government. The Plural Voting Bill was dead, and it would bo impossible to introduce that contentious measure immediately after peaco.