KING AS MEDIATOR.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 633, 9 October 1909, Page 5

KING AS MEDIATOR.

BUDGET CONFLICT.

A PRECEDENT IN THE LAST' REIGN. PRESS COMMENT. ' (By Telegraph-l'ress AssocSatlon-Copyright.) London, October 7. , It is suggested that if King Edward intervenes in regard to the Budget his- action wi recall that of' Queen Victoria iii the. conflict over the Franchise Bill of 188}, when the Duke of Richmond acted as -Queen Victoria's confidential emissary to Mr. Gladstone and the Marquis.of Salisbury. fThe Conservatives resisted Mr.. Gladstone's Reform Act of 1884, on the ground I hat .a great extension of the franchise should hot be carr ried before the Government had disclosed its sokeiue of redistribution. lii August, 1884, tho House of Lords threw out the Bill. But on agreement—facilitated largely by the action, of the Crown—was arrived at after a conference betweenuMr. Gladstone and Lord Salisbury, to Worn the whole scheino was confided, and the Bill was passed in the autumn, session. In tho following session, 1885, the, Redistribution Act wAs passod.] \ _ : Many . politicians and writers profess. to .ro gard Lord. Rosebery's decision to . address no further Budget meetings as a sequel to his Balmoral visit. ; , "The Times" understands that the reasons which influenced the Government in deciding to adjourn were the following;— •> Firstly, the task of revising tho Budget .in order to insert ,the amendments promised '|; during the. connnitteb stages will occupy tho draftsman and Law Officers of the • Crown a. week. . . . • ; Secondly, thero is ho,business of importance for the' Commons to do. ! Thirdly, tho low majorities prove that the . supporters of tho Government are getting' restive and want a holiday. Tho "Pall Mall Gazetto" says tho Government's new-born zeal for mature deliberation sits uncohvincingly on Minsters who exceeded all precedent in the employment of the gag and all-night sittings. No political observer will believe that it is more than a conventional formula. The Opposition papers write of the "Budget muddle," and suggest that the Finance Bill is laid up for repairs. . . V - . ' The headings in tho "Daily Chronicle" (Liberal) read, "The King as Pcaoemakor"; "Seoks to Avert War of Peers and Commons." HIS MAJESTY AND MR. ASQUITH; ■ ( ANOTHER: AUDIENCE., ■. ..V ' (Rec..'October .8,. 10.5 p;ih.) London, October 8. ' Tho- Prime Minister,. Mr. Asqnith, had' a further prolonged .audience'with. King Edward, and will return to London to^ay. 1 . Lord 'Lansdownc, Unionist' in tho House of Lords, denies a widely-circulated ■rumour that he has been invited to the King's I'esideilce at Balmoral for tho week-end.