The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3. THE BRITISH CRISIS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 255, 3 December 1909, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3. THE BRITISH CRISIS.

As was expected, the British House of Lords carried -and by an majority—the amendment of Lord Lansdowne declining to consent to the Hudget till it has been (submitted to ,the judgment of the people, thus precipitating a crisis unique in the history of British politics. The action of the Lords lis but a culmination of a series of at-

tacks on the present administration. Commencing with the mutilation of the Education Bill in 10U6, they have, with t Jh exception of the Uld Age Pensions 15:'!. rendered ineffective ail the policy Bills of the Government, whose position had become untenable long before 1 lie Chancellor of the Exchequer brought down J hit? famous Budget, which was framed with the deliberate intent not meiviy of 'filling the Exchequer lor the vurr mil twelve months but of fundamentally modifying the 'social and political conditions of life in the Jkl Country. In matters of finance it is considered 4 he House of Commons is free to do anything it choosee; that the House of Lords "has no right to interfere. The hereditary chamber, by its action oil Tuesday, however, challenged this I right, and says, in effect, that it is it«s I duty to withhold its concurrence, even i to a financial measure, until it is awute | that the provisions are acceptable to the j people. In other words, it demands the taking of what ifi practically a referen- ■ 'he Budget. The Liberals reni that it against the spirit, if not M)e letter, of the constitution for their lordships to arrogate to themselves t'.io power of forcing a dissolution when they arc sent to Parliament to give effect to the desires of electors. A> Lord Morley put it. "when an elector goes to thr poll he is voting for a House to make laws and -watch their administration and to support a party for a certair number of years in Parliament. . . , The elector must trust those he lias elected and must acquiesce in their actions." There is no questioning the logic of Lord Morley's dictum. The position has therefore resolved it.«olf into this, that the Government cannot legislate without leave of the Peers. That '.s V) sav. though the great :nw< '' people have declared for a parlh'iil-u policy and put in power representalives to give effect to lliat. policy their wishes are to be flouted hv a section of privileged aristocrat*—whose interest s are chiefly affected by the oarryiiis* out nf the policy—or, rather, that the people have again to be consulted as to whether the policy of their representatives still meets with their approval. This appears uf be government by an oligar.-iiy >• witli'a vengeance. Supposing the capitalists nf this eountrv. having n preponderance of vote* in lII I .' L'^Uln*;ve Council, threw out or mangled Bill after Bill sent through by a House of Bep; , «- s'entatives returned by an overwhe'imin-i majority pledged to a defined policy rf reform, how would we regard the Legislative Council? Undoubtedly we would say that the Council stood between u and prngrcfis. 'netween the riglils of \}a masses and vested interests. WowouV unhesitatingly declare for reform an l malce a radical and immediate change in a constitution that permitted such an anachronism to obtain. As a revising Chamber, the House of Lords, as at pre* sent constituted, does not justify its existence. Tt aces.iwith one eye only, its efi?ef concern—at any rate during recent years—being to block progress and the efforts made hv the Liberal statesmen to ameliorate the conditions of a longsuffering people and to conserve ;ind promote the interests of the privileged classes as against those of the masses. With it it has been a case of self fir*t. »eif second and self third, and in the coming struggle at the polls the Liberals or Great Britain will, we are sure, h.mthe" hearty sympathy and good wislie* of the colonial democracies, who have • proved that the principles the British Liberals are contending for iue , J just, sound and beneficial.