THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1909. AN ABSURD SUGGESTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9678, 30 December 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1909. AN ABSURD SUGGESTION.

Thera can be no doubt whatever as to the reception, which British selfgoverning colonies wil? give to the suggestion made by the London "Daily Telegraph"—at the supposed inspiration of Lord .Rosebery—for the reform of the- House of Lurds by distributing 100 non-hereditary seats

among the overseas Dominion. For the scheme is absolutely untenable and exhibits a most lamentable ignor-

anoe of the polit'cal ideals <and principles of the overseas British. We should resent very bitterlv and resist to the uttermost any attempt on the part of the Imperial Government to introduce into our Legislative Council representatives from the United Kingdom, who would thus take part in the ordering of our domestic affairs; and we have neither the desire nor the intention to take any part whatever in the domestic legis latinn of the United Kingdom. Ir may be said that the Imperial Parliament po.ssesses authority over the whole Empire, and that it is therefore only equity that the self-govern-ing colonies should be represented in this august body, which would thus approach more closely to the character of an Imperial Council. But though it is extremely difficult to say just what form an Imperial Council should assume, and just what steps should be taken towards establishing an Imperial Council, it is tne easiest thing in the world to say what form it should not take, and what steps should not be taken. The overseas Dominions cannot agree to any hybridising of the House of Lords and an Imperial Council, which would involve them'

in British internal politics, and. would establish a precedent f r Trw-

peris] 'interference with colonial in- j tezoal politics. .If the House of Lords is to survive, it must survive because of its value to the people of the United-Kingdom. To strengthen st by Introducing a colonial representative element would be as ruinous to the Second Chamber principle as to the Imperial movement, for the more effective it became in British governance the stronger would be the antagonism it mint excite. Indeed, the ao?s one considers the suggestion that --youid lead to our New ! Zealand i'axiiarr-ent sending repre ! sen<al>ves ?.o Westminster to dis- j I cuss and vote upon Saws affecting the j domestic eoiicems of England, Ire- \ land, Scotland and Wales, the more j fantastical the scheme appears. ; While as for our Chambers'of Com- | meres snd University Synods sending i Home to consider i authoritatively British Education i and Small Holdings and Welsh DisI establishes n?; Bill, the proposal is i too prepo. to deserve serious \ discussion.