The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY 29, 1911. THE LORDS AND THE VETO.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 153, 29 June 1911, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY 29, 1911. THE LORDS AND THE VETO.

far tha nw that lochs ataiatomca, *** the wrong that need* rcilaWKM, #_- the future in tha dUtanoa. ttM* tha gvattthot ma •_» «_. '

"Now that' the Coronation is aver,, the 1 struggle between, the. and' the Commons must one* more engross a large share of' ptiblfc. attention;-' and- the . tinionisfc' leaders in the Upper House have already begun' to> suggest amendments, to the Veta Bill. Lord Cromer is anxious that the Speaker should not possess, the sole right to. decide" whether any given, measure is a. Money Bill, and must, therefore, he accepted unconditionally by the Upper House. Lord TLansdo wne is chiefly- concerned about ■ Home Rule, and he -has moved that cer'.tain measures,'including 'tie Home Rule Bill, be specially, "excluded from the operation of the. Veto Bill if its i>ro- i pbsals are finally passed into law. It is not likely- that these half-hearted attempts" % the Unionists to- blunt the edge of Mr. Asquith's weapons will have any serious effect- either upon the Liberal policy or the fate of the House of Lords. They are evidently intended chiefly to gain time,, and the utmost that can be expected of. them, is that they may succeed in deferring for a short .pace tie ultimate and inevitable doom of tha Lords.

But; while the leaders of the Unionist pair ty . are " busying themselves chiefly with the details of the Veto Bill, an impression seems to- be gaining ground among the rank and file of the party that it might be well worth the Lords' while to accept the Veto Bill, with all its watrictiSms, rather than' r run the risks involved in its'rejection. The advocates of this Course recognise -that it is hopeless to suggest 1 the ejrclusion of certain specified measures from the operation .of the new law, and they are not much,more hopeful :of the proposals.that Government should- extend tie period inteaJvening between the first appearance of any- bill in the Lower House and its final passage over the heads of the lords', or that Government'should pledge itself to appeal direct to the people as a last resort before carrying the -principle of the new Act into effect. " What"-will happen, they, .are now asking anxiously,/ if the. Lords should reject the Veto Billf The only expedient left to the Liberals will be the demand, for; the creation of 500 new.peers-by the exercise, of the prerogative .ot fche"Croiwn.. And. many of the more cautious Unionists, who are sincerely desirous of maintaining the Upper Hoqse as a check upon illconsidered legislaition, bold that/this contingency id; not"only the worst danger .that,..the LordsbaTa.-to face, but. th<* worst calamity, that, could possibly befall their own; party; and the most insuper* able obstacle to. their return to power:

hat: lei, _a. suppose that, instead of forcing the Veto Bill through the Upper House and proceeding to exercise the pftwers/'that. it conifers,;"the. Liberals sud-. denly 2nd themselves In" control of'an effective working majority in the Upper House. -This would mean that without waiting fox some two, year* and. a-half— the intertral inip-ied by- .the conditkriis laid down in the bill—they* could at once pass into, law, and with the cpnstittitioiial consent of both Houses, such measures sis -the Home Rule Bill, the Welsh Disestablishment Bill, or a,: hill to .extend the suffrage widely on a democratic basis. In fact, the Creation of SQO- /Liberal peers would place Mr. Asquith and. his.,friend's in a. .position of absolute predominance, and the chance of delaying such legislation and giving the country time- to think it over before the decisive plunge is made, would be lost to the Lords for ever. Aa matters now stand, the Home Rule Bill is not likely to be introduced 'before next year; and if it is rejected in lSli and 1913 it would come" up for the third and last time-in 1914,-only one year before the general election. But if the Lords reject the Veto. Bill, the Liberals with their 500 peers will carry. Home; Rule next year without, the least doubt or hesita-. tion. And so with-any-other deniocratic measures that, _M_r. Asjuith and his friends .may choose to introduce. Taking all this into consideration,. it is easy to appreciate the contention of many of the less prominent Unionists that the Lords will make an irrevocable'- false step if they once install a permanent Liberal and Ra-dical majority in the Upper House; and it follows logically that almost any course the Lords could take would be wiser than to reject the Veto Bill. If they accept it 'they will still retain something of their traditional privileges, and powers -.hut.if,they throw it but, the Upper House,- as the -country has known-it for so many centuries, is doomed beyond red_mjtion.