THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2111, 20 June 1907, Page 1

THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Professor ..Goodwin .Smith, tlie Eng-, lish aufjior, historian, political .writer,: and scholastic .'aiithofity who lias been.’sb ..long resident' in' Canada, , sends to the. Spectator ..the following; advice cbnceniing the House or. Lords:—’’The absence ,of.,ariy greatburst t of national .indignation against; the .Lqfdsjfor tjieu'it'reatinpiit of the Editcatirin Bill" is perhaps due to a ; caiisc' deeper/and more;.general than : aiiVfeeling ahqut a particular liiea-. sure. . Rioperty; threatened with the: despotism of a Socialistic House of, Cciriiirious may be unwilling ,to .tear; down' .the last .bulwark.' The -Trade.

Disputes Act is",a ) warning knell.j Still. ,a reform, or rather a reorgani-y sation, of the jUpper House must cornel . . TJib. cbiirse of tho .-House of Lords forthe'..last’ two* centuries, has .been simply- class resistance- to-ali; chaii"b;,,everi to change’ so manifestly' needful, as* the'..rqfprrp ,of. the. crimi.nal law. .Boswell thought ho-could 't'rust it to uplipld slavery. . It obstructed the reform of the monstrous rotten-. Unrou-fh /Parliament till it almost brought oil' a revolution, throwing, awav ,tlie opportunity of tempering a change, jas it might. have done, ,by . timely concession. T-lic scandals .incident /to /its .present "constitution, though practically they ‘''may, not, he very, serious, are mprajlv fatal!' Men noted for had ’characters or weak intellect may vote, and niav possibly decide, great ciuestipris. A young Duke asks the head of his College at' Oxford for. leave of jahselice'.that lie may run lip, to Westminster and, helj> to settle the' destiny of the. nation. There is ,no use in dwelln'g oh these things, still less in exaggeration and railing. .But in the Conservative interest, and to save .the country from the' despotism of a revolutionary* House of .Commons it has become absolutely necessary to convert tlie House of Lords' info a Seriate. If there is any regard for the future of the country in making this momentous change, the work will he done, not by inflanied factnjjnf hut 1 calm and patriotic statesmanship lookin" to the interest of the whole nation.”