BRITISH POLITICS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8145, 21 May 1906, Page 5

BRITISH POLITICS.

LABOUR BILL REJECTED. LONDON, May 18. Ia the Hjuse of Lords, yesterday, the Labour Party's Bill preventing the importation of aliens under contract during a labour dispute was thrown out by £6 votes to 24. The Bill passed in the House of Commons without opposition. TNDIGNANT LABOUR MEMBERS. DEBATE IN THE HOUSE Ob 1 COMMONS. LONDON, May 18. The House of Lords arrived at its decision on the Aliens Labour Bill while the House of Commons was voting money which the House of Lords expends. Indignant Labour members, by way of protest, moved the reduction of the vote. So many new members supported the amendment that the defeat of the Government might conceivably have been engineered. Mr Lewis Harcourt. First Commissioner of Works, however, eventually seoured the withdrawal of the amendment. Mr Keir-Hardie, speaking on the amendment, blamed the Government for not accepting Lord Lanadowne's offer in connection with the Aliens Bill. He asked how long the Government intended to countenance the House of Lords. The incident, he said, raised the question whether Democracy was a reality or show. Mr Q. Whiteley, speaking in the absence of the Liberal leaders, referred to the rejection of the Bill, as a "regrettable inoident." He pointed out that the measure was unofficial, and there was np reason why the Government should assume charge of it.

COMMENTS BY THE TIMES. LONDON, May 18. The Times, commenting on the inoident, says workers have more to fear from a steady influx of aliens in Ordinary circumstances than the temporary importation in an emergency. The Government, adds the journal, deliberately weakened the operations of the Aliens Act. .. OPENING SHOT OF A FIERCE BATTLE. Received May 20, 10.30 a.m. LONDON, May 19. The Daily News states that the House of Lords' rejection of the Aliens Bill is the opening shot of a fierce and loi;g awaited battle to force popular rights. THE NEW HEBRIDES. LONDON, May 18. In the House of Commons, fSir Ewdard Grey Seoretary of State for Foreign Affairs, informed Mr Henniker Heaton, that the draft convention prepared by the Anglo-French Commission was intended to make an equable settlement of British and French interests in the New Hebrides. The Government was awaiting observations from Australia and New Zealand.