The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 24. SECOND CHAMBERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 221, 24 January 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 24. SECOND CHAMBERS.

■iJie main objection to the majority of 1 arliamentary Upper Houses—which in all the King's dominions exist because the House of Lords exists—is that their members are not elected by the people. It is conceivable, but not in the least likely, that if the British House of Louis were abolished, the noble peers, on ap-, peal to the people, might form the one necessary chamber. When Tories at Home or in any of the dominions pro-, phecy ruin as a result of Upper House' abolition, they deliberately accuse themselves of unpopularity. One test of a politician's worth is the confidence of the people. It is not a question of party at all. If, for instance, the Upper House of the Parliament of X,ew Zealand were disbanded to-morrow and its members were all elected by the people to seats in the sole chamber, the presence of exM.L.C.'s in politics would be absolutely justified. We have had some notable examples of members of the Upper House testing their utility by resignation and appeal to the people for a place in the working portion of Parliament, this being an acknowledgment by them that what is fought for and properly earned is worth having. There is, indeed, a rumor in circulation now that Dr. Findlay, the brilliant Attorney-General, whose Ministerial appointment did not come by way of the people's mandate, may offer himself as a candidate at the elections. Political parties, as has been so glaringly illustrated in the recent British elections, reason illogically that no good can come from the other side, no matter what its composition may be, and t'his kind of political warfare possibly deprives all countries where it flourishes of the services of great and good men. The abolition of the House of Lords would mean merely the "scrapping" of a great machine, but it would not abolish the peers. The people would merely have 'a chance of rejecting those aristocratic politicians who were in their opinion useless, and in honoring those whose titles did not dim their utility—for a man's nature is not changed bj r the possession of a title. It is the machine tliat courts destruction, not the cogs. But the use of Liberal and Tory venom obscures truth and gives the elector specks before the eyes. It is inconceivable that reasonable men can believe that the destruction of any political machine can spell disaster. Here, for instance, is a British Tory Forecast of what would happen under a single-chamber Government: It will be possible within the lifetime of a single Parliament for a majority of its members to carry into law the most revolutionary proposals, A majority controlled by Socialists would turn the United Kingdom into a republic and confiscate the land of its 2,000,01)0 owners, whether they be dukes, farmers who have bought their holdings, or working men who own their homes. A Little Englander majority would scrap our Xavy, disband our Army, resign India to the native dynamiters and assassins, and tell our daughter nations across the seas to take care of themselves. A majority controlled by Irish Nationalists—men inspired by admitted hatred of Englandwould, to use their own language, drive English rule bag and baggage out of Ireland, would crush tile loyal minority by a strong hand, and establish a hostile Republic within two hours' sail of Great Britain."

'■ j All of which, of course, was written pure

ly and entirely for party purposes, and not because the Tory Party cared twopence what would happen to the people on the destruction of a machine. The assumption in the generous supply of untruth dished up above is that no elected Parliament is capable of having any common sense unless it has an unclectod or hereditary chamber to coerce it. It further assumes that governments are withheld from making collective asses of tliemsclv.es by people who stroll into Parliament because their parents had the same privilege. Upper Chambers, therefore, not because of the men who compose it, but merely because they are Upper Chambers, prevent the disruption of Empire and save it to the people, but, logically, the machine composed of peers might easily be disbanded and the Empire saved by the peers who happened to get into a single chamber. Following the argument to its just conclusion, Australia and Xew Zealand could dispense "with their imitation "lords" as forming a mere machine and still be in possession of the priceless cogs, for unearned honor and empty title do not kill the instincts and utility of statesmen. If E. W. Gladstone had fallen a prey to a bauble as his son has done, ho would still have been Gladstone; if Seddon had eagerly bagged a coronet, he would still have remained tile greatest New Zealandcr; if John Bright bad been fitted with a high-sounding handle, he would still have been John Bright. On the other hand, the teeth of the same John Bright might easily have been blunted with a. marquisate or a dukedom, for he .was the author of the Government's veto scheme. Hear him: •'The fact is the breed remains' unchanged, and there is only one power under heaven that can change them, and it rest with our countrymen. (Loud cheers). Privilege everywhere, begets ignorance and selfishness and arrogance. (Hear, heai). Tn the House of Commons, coming from the people, there is always a growing sense that liberty and justice arc necessary for a free people. (Hear, hear). What would have become of this country if Hie House of Lords—the majority of the Lords—-had ruled unchecked during the past fiftv years? (A voice: A revolution). By this time the country would Ic.ve been enslaved or ruined, or a revolution would have swept them away (hear, hear)---and it might possibly have swept, awav even the venerated monarchy itself. (Hear, hear)." Revolution could not come because peers existed, but because of their composite destructive power as a machine. It is still possible to "dearly love a. lord" without bowing down to worship the veto. Then this amazing admission from Lord Rosebcry in liSfll is well worth reprinting: ■■The time Vis conic when the right, of 1!,.. |!,„ M ' hi Lords tn ,>|!;i.i:,r an absolute vein io ih.' ci-be; it legislation of the 11,,.,~e (if Conimniis shoiiU for ever cease. We thank (iod thai we arc not as other

less favored men, and all the time wo endure the mockery of freedom. You are bound hand and foot. You may vote until you are black in tie face. The House of Lords still will control at its will the measure ef your representatives." If the great dead and the great living agree that the abolition of a sinister machine operating in the Homeland is necessary, it is as necessary that an alteration in the composition of non-elective second chambers should take place throughout the Empire. We have already said that non-elective colonial upper chambers may. some day be convinced of their opposition to democracy that they will voluntarily quit office. Such an act would be a fine precedent for the hereditary peers.