Manawatu Standard The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1885. THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 36, 13 January 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1885. THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

. ■•■• ■■ - ■*■ "■ - The agitation which has lately I been in progress in England as to the- desirability--of dispensing -with* the House of Lords, is not without interest to colonial readers. Inhere are; in. England, three distinct parties upon this question, viz., those who wish to see it abolished, those who desire to have it re-formed; and those who would rather leave it as it is. As i matters stand at present, it is probable that the result will prove unsatisfactory, because common-sense views of the subject are liable to be forgotten in the clamour raised by the excited orators ~ of ,_jhe contending parties. And yet, iiever was there < greater need for calm deliberationi never yet was there raised a question demanding a greater exercise of sober f and dispassionate thought and judgement. It is certain that a matter of such cannot. be satisfectorily, settled by excited appeals to popular feeling; it is a subject which requires to be v fi)lly, and carefully discussed. The ostensible cause of the agitation was the fact that the House of Lords had the audacity to differ in opinion front) the Hopse of Commons as to the manner of introducing a certain Bill; and, thereupon, a charge of " trying to force a dissolution" was made against the Peers, i.' who were, furthermore, charged with attempting their ■ It requires*, however, but little reflection to show that the question of the conduct of the Peers upon the Franchise BiH has nothing whatever'to do with their Constitution, in .spite of the fact that the Radical orators so persistently state that their action in ,reference ,to this Bill, shows their Constitution, to be quite ojjj; of keeping with the present enlightened ajge. For the mosjt part it will be acknowledged that, unless it existed for the sole and useless purpose of recording the decisions of the representative body, any; second Chamber, howeyer constituted, must be per-1 mitted to differ from that body occasionally; _.__4, if $*.& differeftce ; has honestly arisen, it pannot &irjy bej iipputed as a crinifi to the second Chamber that the Constitution of the country has provided an appeal ! | to. the electoral body as a means of ! <arbitration be.twee.ji the two. : If the .House of Lords had given way, without aby such appeal having been > made, it would have luwewdered -its/ '; prestige and independence in a very . weak manner, and the decision of j the 'Country is the only method by which, in cases of this kind, they ' -can be ruled* .The House mons claims more than this. It claims that, equally in the last as in ! the first years of its existence—-

equally when the whole electoral body has just given its mandate to its representatives, and when, as in this case, about half of the electors are new voters, who have never had r an opportunity of exercising the franchise, the House of Lords is to be bound to accept the opinion of the other House as the undeniable expression of the views of the present constituencies. Assuredly there is very little logic or common "sense in this,' and, if it is to be accepted as sound doctrine, then the second Chamber, be it called House of Lords or anything else, is simply useless. As regards the charge of " trying to force-a dissoiutioti,? we cbhfess that ( we fiftd it difficul|t to believe can be seriopsly advanced by. the; friends- of j the Government, and,. least' of all| by the Prime Ministerj who, five wars ago, proclaimed an agitation for an early dissolution to be a perfectly on the part of ** any party n which wishes it. Nevertheless, the Prime _3Vlinistcr has latterly been accusing the 4 Hj>use of Lords of an V unconfititiitirjmal attempt to force a dissolution." j On this subject we feel bound to nrge > that7jfi there is to >bcva House of Lords at. ajly and if, it is to be permitted to differ ( frpm.the of, Co minoris, the ' only a -hcoiistitutional 1 ' tiling abcut the -hatter j s the conduct of thq Prime Mihfster in refusing to aclvise an appeal toj the court of arbitration-7-namely, t the constituencies —- and in declaring practically, if tibt in so many words, f , unless 'the, House of Lbi-ds yields to,the Commops, or, mother i words, to his own; will, : the, Constitution must be.altered !: Weaieat a, loss to!understand, how ,a jfree people,are so hpoidwinked as to be unable to see that the real question i. at issue is not whether a .lumber of their fsHow-countrynibh (in whose 1 present disfranchisement both Houses 1 are agreed) shall be immediately- en- ! franchised, but whether the present mixeid.Constiturioniof Qiieen, Lords, and Commons is to continue to exist, i^he; House of Lords have acted within their constitutional, right, and if it bip the, will of .the people ,that •& Constitution should be C alterecl because they differ frob a five-years' old Commons, and because the, Government, sup- j ' ported "by7-he '.atter, insists upon j passing'one part of a. measure, lippn one and the same subject, into lijr J before producing the other, by all means let it be so. Those who have '[ st_died the -other_oiintries will probably agree with us in stating that no sucn second Chamber as the \ Bntish 1 House ,of Peers has ever existed,;or is ever likely to exist again if the preseht House be 1 destroyed. .'■. Yet, withoat .douibt, 1 this can and will be done'ii[ the ~ people, are, resolved it, shall be so. In such, an event, the Jfeers will have the satisfaction of knowing thatt : they hftve fallen in: the conscientious discharge of theirduty,.; The crisis is one requiring . courage and deteimination on the part of those in 1 -.--._-. w»7-_f_»_vs ** ■•*■* */*• A f** ,fr ♦h'tt -arrii with which England is threatened— , the abolition of the Monarchy—and if the Peers evince those qualities : in the honest discharge of their duty, they will strengthen themselves in ! the opinion of their countrymen, and may appeal with confidence to a • just and intelligent people.