The Daily News. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11. AN IMPERIAL HOUSE OF LORDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 312, 11 February 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11. AN IMPERIAL HOUSE OF LORDS.

From the viewpoint of the overseas citizens of the Empire, the proposal put forward by Mr. Griffiths, M.P. ior Wednesbury, for the reform of the House of Lords, is one thoroughly in accord with colonial sentiment. Whatever may be the ultimate fate of this august chamber, there is little doubt that its purely hereditary constitution is doomed. It cannot be denied, at the same time, that some of the brightest brains of the Empire adorn the House of Peers; and whether such men occupy their seats by inherited right or have been elevated to the peerage as a reward for distinguished national services, the scheme of reform must not

I be such as will exclude them from participation in the affairs of government. Many of the famous titled families of the Old Country, by generations of participation in the field of government and diplomacy, have "transmitted to their descendants undoubted qualification, and their hereditary predilection soon makes itself apparent. Whether or not, therefore, the hereditary right to sit in the House of Lords were abolished, there is little doubt the special qualifications of many scions of the privileged classes' would mark them as worthy the nation's confidence. There are also, it cannot be denied, very many titled individuals whose intelligence and moral fibre is far below that of the ancestry from which they sprung a parasitic class that is neither useful nor ornamental. No scheme of reform eould ever be complete that continued to place in the hands of such a class the power to veto the will of the (people. The ideal House of Lords* undoubtedly would be that in which would sit only men who had distinguished themselves in some way in the service of the State or of the people. The cry for the abolition altogether of a second legislative chamber finds little endorsement; those best qualified to speak unanimously admit that an unbiassed revising chamber is the best safeguard of the people against ill-conceived and ill-considered legislation. Mr. Griffiths' scheme of reform particularly appeals to the colonies, in that it proposes direct representation of the overseas dominions in the British Parliament. Sooner or later s'ome such scheme of genuine Imperial representation in the joint affairs of the Empire is certain to fructify, and the realisation of Mr. Griffiths' proposal would be » step forward, the effect of which would be at once to solve the difficulty of Imperial unity. The day is still distant when an Imperial Parliament, designed on the lines of the German Zollverein, will sit in London, but under the proposed reformed House of Lords it would be poss'ibleT for the colonies to dire«tly vojee their opinions and exercise their judgment on every matter of Imperial concern. The curtailing of the independent chamber to an assembly limited to two hundred, drawn from distinguished representatives of all classes in the Old Country and prominent statesmen from the whole of the colonics; with, the Secretary of State for the Colonies as leader, would provide an assembly possessing the confidence of the whole Empire, and entitled to speak decisively on all matteos of Imperial concern. The absolute right of the colonies to participate in deciding the foreign policy of the Empire, no less than in directing the policy 'of Imperial defence and promoting homogeneity, is no longer visionary. The colonies have now to bear their share of the great and growing Imperial responsibilities; an independence that they could not, unaided, maintain for a (Say was the only alternative. Responsibility without consultation, however, is quite contrary to our democratic ideals, and, while the colonies' right to be consulted has been admitted, and, moreover, demonstrated at the recent Imperial Conference, no direct mova liaa yet been made towards direct representation. The functions of conferences, after all, are confined, for all practical •purposes, to that of advising the British Government. wmi« sympa-

thetic regard h.is no doubt been given to the resolutions of these conferences, it is quite evident that something of a more permanent character than the tentative tribunal decided on is needed to crown the affirmations of imperial unity and co-operation. We regard the scheme outlined by Mr. Griffiths, or a

modification of it, as one calculated to achieve that object, and as such will, we hope, receive more than the mere passing notice of British statesmen.