Veto Bill Passed.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 303, 17 May 1911, Page 5

Veto Bill Passed.

BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS JUBILANT. SPEECH BY THE PREMIER. By Gable—Press Association—Copyright. Received 17, 12.5 a.m. London, May 16. The House of Commons passed the third reading of the Veto Bill by 302 to 241, the Radicals and Nationalists rising in their places and waving handkerchiefs. Mr. T. E. Smith taunted the Government with rejecting Mr. Balfour's proposals. Only their allies' able help enabled the Government to redeem their word of honor in the matter of the reform of the second chamber. Mr. Asquith ridiculed the idea that the people were indignant. The so-called revolution was only detected by the occasional yawn of weariness over the prolonged discussion. The Opposition were profoundly mistaken in thinking that the popular hostility to the Lords was due to aversion for the hereditary principle. It was due to what the Lords had done. The Opposition now wanted a second chamber working in the saimc spirit but less obtrusively—a one-sided chamber with the hereditary principle deleted. The Liberals were quite contented with the principle, when, as in the case of the monarchy, it performed efficient functions in the constitution. The political fortunes of the Liberal Parv made it neeessaTy that it should undertake the reconstruction of the House of Lords during the present Parliament. Mr. Balfour's delay Bill was but a feeble referendum, without an instrument for enabling the people to express their opinions. The Bill was thoroughly undemocratic. Mr. Churchill said he was almost aghast at the Government's moderation. The Lords still 'wielded formidable and menacing powers.