BRITISH POLITICS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8475, 29 June 1907, Page 5

BRITISH POLITICS.

REFORM OF THE HOUSE OP LOIiDS.

RESOLUTION CARRIED. Received June 28, 8.10 a.m. LONDON, June 27. The debate on Sir Henry CampbellBannerman's House of Lords resolution:—""That in order to give effect to the will of the people as expressed by elected representatives it is necessary that the power of the other House to alter or reject Bills be so restricted by law as to secure that within the limits of a single Parliament the final decision of the Commons shall prevail"—was continued in the House of Commons. Mr Lloyd-George, President of the Board of Trade, enumerated Bills which the House of Lords had obstructed or mutilated. The only instance in which the action of the House of Lords was justified by the sequel was the rejection of Mr Gladstone's Home Rule Bill, but this would not have fared better had Sir I Henry Cnmpbell-Bannerinan's present plan been in operation in 1893 inasmuch as, although the Act would have received the Royal sanction, it would, as a result of the country's opposition, have been repealed by the new Parliament before it became operative. Mr Lloyd-George proceeded to deride the comparison of the House of Lords to a mastiff watching the people's interests. Alluding to the Trades Disputes Bill, he,said the mastiff ran away at the first snarl of the trades unions, and might more fitly be regarded as Mr Balfour's poodle. Mr F. E. Smith, Conservative 1 member for Walton (Liverpool), regarded the scheme of conference between the Houses as solemn mummery. Earl Percy, Conservative member for Kensington South, thought Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's declaration that the House of Common s shall prevail was intended to give the Ministry a greater control over the Commons, and meant that in the event of a deadlock the decision should he taken from the people and transferred to the Crown. Mr Asquith, Chancellor of the Exchequer, urged that the House of | Lords was the docile instrument of one party and was not a dispassionate umpire. The amendment moved by Mr Arthur Henderson. Labour member for> Barnard Castle, Durham, in favour of the abolition of the House of Lords, was rejected by 315 to 100. The bulk of the Unionists abstained from voting. Twenty Liberals voted with the minority. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's resolution was adopted by 432 votes to 147. About twenty Liberals abstained from voting. The newspapers in their comments consider that the debate is in accordance with party colour. The general public has evinced little interest. Many persona look for more practical results from Lord Rosebery's committee, which is considering Lord Newton's Bill for the internal reform of the House-of Lords.