BRITISH POLITICS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 818, 24 March 1910, Page 3

BRITISH POLITICS

London, March 21

The newspapers of both parties refer to the eager preparations for an election which some now anticipate in April. Those who anticipate a change of Government shortly, involving the Premier leaving his official residence In Downing Street, notice that his former residence iu Cavendish Square is being cleaned and prepared for occupation. Many questions have been asked in the House of Commons upon various phases of the financial position, but Mr Asquith has refused all information except that at present the Government do not intend to have two Budgets rolled into one. They still intended to pass the Budget, he said, before the spring recess. The Bank of Kngland, in view of the Government’s decision not to secure legislative sanction for the collection of the income tax informed the London County Council that the Bank intends to refund the amount deducted on the application of owners of stock. The announcement refers to the 74 millions of London stock whereon the income lax totals jQ 120,000. The Council hitherto held this at the Government’s disposal, but the Treasury never applied for it. The Council agreed with the Bank’s decision.

The newspapers report that Messrs O’Brien and Healey recently paid a visit to Mr LloydGeorge. Mr O’Brien writes that he has good reason to hope that the extra spirit duties, the burdens on the land, and the proposed general re-valuation will be dropped. Otherwise the Budget and its authors and accomplices are doomed.

Mr Keir Hardie, speaking at Merthyr, described Mr Asquith’s speech at Oxford as “ another bellyful of the last wind.” He believed the Government was riding lor a fall.

The Star asks why the Premier and Mr Redmond do not come to an arrangement immediately.

The Westminster Gazette is unsympathetic towards any arrangement with the Nationalists.

A junior Imperial Constitutional Teague has been formed with Viscount Castlereagh as president. There are already fifty branches, and the movement is still spreading.

VETO RESOLUTIONS

London, March 22

In the House of Commons today Mr Asquith gave the details of his House of Lords veto resolutions as follows :

(i). It is expedient that the House ot Lords should be disabled by law from rejecting or amending money bills.

These are defined as follow ;

“Bills which the Speaker considers to contain only provisions dealing with the imposition, repeal, remission, alteration, or regulation of taxation ; also charges on the Consolidated Fund, or .the provision of money by Parliament; also the supply and appropriation, control, or regulation of public money ; also the raising, guaranteeing, or repayment of loans, or matters incidental to the subjects.” (2) “It is expedient that tiie powers ot the House of Lords respecting Bills other than money bills be legally restricted so that when a bill has passed the House of Commons three successive sessions, and has been sent to the House of Lords at least a mouth before the end of the session, and rejected in each of the three sessions, it shall become law without the consent of the House of Lords upon the Royal Assent being given, provided that at least two years shall elapse between the lirst introduction to the House of Commons and the date when it passes the House of Commons for the third lime. Bills shall be treated as rejected if not passed by the House of Lords without amendments agreed to by both Houses. 7 ' (3) “The third resolution limits the duration of Parliament to live years.”

PRLSS OPINIONS

The Daily News states that Mr Asquith’s resolutions will create profound satisfaction throughout the country. They are not complicated by questions of Second Chamber reform.

The Chronicle says : Any serious disunion will be fatal. The passage of the Budget is essential. The Times complains that the resolutions, in making the Speaker the sole judge of tacking resolutions, are a shade less objectionable witn quinquennial than with septennial Parliaments.

Radical lobby opinions criticises the provision whereby two years must elapse between the first introduction and the third rejection of a Bill. This, it is stated, will have the effect of sterilising the closing years of a Parliament’s existence. A CONFERENCE. Mr Lffiyd-George, Mr Birred, the Master of EUbauk, Mr Redmond, and Mr Dillon, had an hour s conference, but the result is not known. Ministerialists are hopeful that a modus vivendi will be arranged. LORD ROSEBERY'S RESOLUTIONS. The House of Lords has agreed to the Committee stage of two of Lord Rosebery’s resolutions. A lively discussion followed on Lord Killaniu’s proposals to limit the application of the third resolution to future peerages. Lord Rosebery, the Duke of Northumberland, and Lord Laus*

downe urged Lord Killanin to withdraw his amendment on the ground that it would be open to the criticism that the peers desired to preserve their own interests.

Lord Killanin eventually agreed to this suggestion, and the. debate was adjourned. Lord Rosebery’s resolutions are as follows:

(1) “ That a strong and efficient Second Chamber, an integral part of the Constitution, is necessary for the well-being of the State and the balance of Parliament.”

(2) “ That such a Chamber can best be obtained by the reform and reconstruction of the House of Lords.”

(3) “That a necessary preliminary to such reconstruction is the acceptance of the principle that the possession of a peerage no longer of itself gives the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords.”

London, March 22

In the House of Commons, Mr A. D. Steel-Maitlaud, Unionist member for Birmingham Kast, accused the Government of creating financial chaos. Mr Austeu Chamberlain asked how the Government was justified iu deducting the income tax from the salaries of public officials if it was illegal to collect from unofficial persons ? Mr Lloyd George, replying, ridiculed the supposition that the Treasurer should beg the payment of the income lax when unable to enforce or demaud it. The Conservatives have determined to fight every constituency which they contested in the last campaign.

Mr S. W. Butcher, Liberal member for Cambridge University, is urging the Government to take immediate steps to legalise the collection of the income tax, because many millions are iu the hands of banks and companies throughout the country, some of which companies may possibly go into liquidation.

Mr Joseph King, Liberal Member for Knutsford, has introduced a Bill providing for holding all elections on one day. Sir H. Kimber, Liberal Member for Wandsworth, has introduced a Reform aud Redistribution Bill.

The veto resolutions proposed by the Government, met with approval or disapproval, according to Party lines.

The Nationalists withhold their opinion, pending the statement by the Premier as to how the Government proposes to give effect to the scheme iu the event of the House of Lords rejecting the resolutions or postponing its decision.