"USURPATION."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 680, 3 December 1909, Page 7

"USURPATION."

LIBERAL REPLY TO LORDS MOTION IN COMMONS. DEBATE WILL PROBABLY BE SHORT (By iTelegriph-Preea Acsootttloß-Oocrrteht.l | : (Keo. December 2, 7.55 p.m.) ' ; , London, December 2.' r In the House of Commons the Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, was received with lbud Ministerial oheers when he gave notice to move today: ■ :". " • ■'■' ' ;, .-.- • That the'action of the House of Lords in refusing to pass irjtb law the financial provision made by. the House of Commons for the service . of the year was a breach of the Con- ; stitution, arid a usurpation of the ' rights of the House of Commons. The reading of tho motion was hailed with ft renewal of applause. . : ,"... :;- ■ ; ■The Unionist leaders have Tesolved no);', to propose an. amendment to Mr. Asquith's ■ tion, but to give a direotlvote against it. : After - Mr. Asquith's speech,. Mr. '■ Austen Chamberlain (formerly Unionist Chancellor ; or the. ; Exchequer) will . express the Opposition's views,, and Mr..A. Henderson will express': the.: Labour party's. ■■,The Nationalists will not par' ticipate in'the division on the resolution. It. is generally agreed, irrespective of party',' that in a crisis of such gravity, a,prolonged discussion, of .the constitutional issue would .be out of place.'. ' . ' . ; .: : . Lord Lansdowne has received telegrams from many Unionist Associations throughout .Vthe country promising to support the House of Lords in its action. ' : ■ ■.-'.■'. •'■'•. ,■"

PROROCATION-AND AFTER! ELECTIONS IN'VIEW. "ARRANGING TO RECEIVE TAXES." London,' December 2. The prorogation of Parliament will take place to-morrow. Tho Government is arranging to receive, rather' than to continuo to ! collect, the new taxes, and the income tax and tea duty, until a new Parliament "regularises the situation. ,'' LORD nOSEBERY'S FEARS. LORDS MAY ENHANCE THE BUDGET'S POPULARITY. THEIR GUN MAY RECOIL. (Eec. December 2, 11 p.m.) (Rcc. December 2, 11 p.m.) London,' December 2. Lord Eosebery has written a letter in reply to tho remark by Lord Curzon, ithat "Lord Eosebery'S Glasgow speech delivered tho Budget a smashing blow; yet Lord , Eosebery , s conclusions'in his speech in tho Houso of Lords were lame and impotent." ' Lord Rosobery declares that he still- fears, as ho did when speaking at Glasgow, that actions such as the Lords had now taken, may injuriously afiect a valuable institution and enhance what popularity the Budget may possess. THE SUSPENDING OF THE BUDGET., SCENE IN THE CHAMBER. London, December 1. The'majority-of 275' that carried in thn House of Lords tho Unionist amendment to tho Budget-'That 'the House of Lords is not justified in giving its consent to the Bill until it has, becu, submitted to, tho judgment of tho country"—included 260 Conservatives, 77 UnionistSj 12 Liberals, and the Bishop of Lincpln (Dr. King). Tho minority (75) included GG Liberals, 2 Unionists, 3 Conservatives, tho Archbishop of York (Dr. Lang), and the Bishops of Birming'ham, Chester, and-Saint Asaph (Doctors Gore, Jayne, and Edwards respectively). Tho figures ot tho division were received with a slight, Unionist cheer, and a counter cheer and somo faint hisses from members of tho House of Commons seated in the galleries.

; An,' attempted demonstration-, outside the Hotise of' Lords proved a* fiasco.3 ■' ■'

; • . Lord Curron on Bureaucracy, j During his. epeech in the. Budget, debate in the Lords, Lord Gurzbn 6aid:"l:am not;sure we could count upon the.people getting six or e'ight experience of the; Budget...Perhaps tho Government are afraid of six months and will spring ah,election Upon;them." .The Budget created.machinery,for ..the carrying out of,new. objects, and there was nothing harder than .to .'disestablish, a bureaucracy. ■■"; If the Lords. surrendered now, they would; be'.; committed : to'' Jα.;. Constitution wherein one .Chamber: could override the'other without appeal to the ■ people./ Hβ went further:. .'The House-'. 6t Lords had. no right.- to yield: the- principle that ■any measure, however- socialistic and subversive,'muat -be'-.passed :-if -cramped within a .Finance Bill. ... ' -. r: :'' ' : . '". : . ; '.'■ •.' '■ ■ ■'■'■-,:'.'•■

L«V Rejection: of Finance Bill by Lords. ''Lord Curzou.weflt on to.refer to. the,.last occasion upon which, the House of Lords rejected Bill, '.-in,-1860.\ (This was 'the Paper Duties Repeal' Bill, which was thr'own but;by a.-iinajority of '89 j in the following;,year; '1861, the repeal of .the, paper duties:'was embodied not in a separate-Bill, but in the . Budget,, and wiis sent.up to'the House of Lords, which thereupon passed the ■ Budget en • bloc.) The speaker stated that the reason no Finance Bill 'had been rejected since 18G0 was that'no Chancellor, had submitted a. Bill directly challenge ing the Lords' prerogatives. Lord Curzon (who :is .'.an; advocate of reform, of the. House, of Lords, and was a momher of Lord Rosebery's Committee of Peers) went on to .say."Some of'uswbtild warmly welcome*; a: constitutional .struggle." Ho: hoped that out cj the'.struggle would emerge a ; reformed. House: of Lords. It might not. happen.' at-this election, but, ho hoped at a subsequent date the'country'would givo an"-unmistakable..mandate that, a second :Chamber. was '. an essential, part of the Constitution, and should Continue independent, fearless,; and strong^ , -.;, ; .'-' .. .-■•, ■-■■■-i''' ' ".' ; ■ v' ( Ftse-traders' Views...-■ ■ •, ■, -; • Lord Courtney( of :Penwith (who as a Freetrader: left-the ■Unionist ranks:and returned n tq the Liberals)'warned the House that the issue of:the, election would be wider than they imagined. Their'present action might possibly imperil.: their, present powers. Tho adoption of.a'.refercndumin a question, of finance introduced an .-..unworkable scheme. V.- • .' ■y Lortr Goschen. declared 'there was nothing jnore ..injurion's .to the country's credit than uncertainty, regarding the future. The' Budget established extravagant machinery .. to deal tritli objects alien' to the financial need's of the yoar.'.. In voting for the ■ amendment: he ■ occupied in no.wise an inconsistent 'position for a Free-trader. '■" . ■;■.' "■•'• ' / '.' ;■[■:'.;■/■- '. -. -'.. ■"' -..'•■■ tord. Stanmore" (formerly Sir Gordon, at one time Governor of New" Zealand nhil High' Commissioner 'for :the '. Western Pacifiq), as -,a Free-trader, dissociated himself from Lord Cromer's-abstention, policy. , ':; LORD COURTNEY'S ADVICE. Lord Courtney of Penwith has the rcpu'ta. tion 'of: being as candid to 'his to his oppdnent.'i, and though ho has passed througli both political canipe, he is generally respected if jiotloved. A. unionist writer soys of him! ■ ."Submissiveness . is. not'.in- Lord Courtney's dictionary. ; Cornishman and philosophical Radical : is a. fearsome blond, : resulting;" naturally,' in turbulent honesty and n fanatic; devotionto' dry light. Lord Cptirtney'has'alwavs felt it'his,duty to'say what he thought, aiid to think terrifically. Ho Jidii-tho qualities of a powerful and. independoiit intellect--aiid their

defects. For one thing, he has always paid the world the ;untnerited' compliment of it to /be peopled with Leonard' Courtrieys, so that proportional representation and uniyersol arbitration are at least-as-easy to achieve as the words are to Bay, For another, ho has lost all balance in his desire:,to , be 'well-bal-ancod,' and the moment anyone agrees with him ha begins to find arguments on tho other side. Hence the candidness of his friendship to whatever party he'might nominally support,, and the anti-patriotic bias, which made Ms influenco largoly responsible for. Majubai left him in a: tiny minority over'Foshoda, and later on brought him out as a shocking' proBoor. At all times, however; Lord'Courtney's absolute sincerity and ■ high-mindedness haTO been unquestioned." .. /,.■'. i.. After a reference to Lord Courtney's "oppressive virtues," the writer concedes: "Lord Courtney's knowledge is 'encyclopaedic. Hβ has mixed proportional representation with old China,, political economy with lawn tennis, woman's.'suffrage with art," . ;:.■ .

HOW GLADSTONE,TRIUMPHED. ; "The Budget of 1860 (mites a'standard authority) was marked by two distinctive feaIt asked the sanction of Parliament for the commercial treaty' which. Cobden had privately.arranged with, the Emperor Napoleon; and it proposed to abolish the duty on paper. The French treaty was carried, but tlio abolition of the: paper' duty was defeated in the House of Lords. Gladstone justly regarded thb refusal to remit a dutyae being in effect an net of taxation, and therefore ae an'infringement of the rights' of the House of Commons. The ■ proposal to abolish the paper duty was revived in the Budget of 1861; the ohief proposals': of whidh, inetead of being divided, as lnprevious years, into several Bills, were Included in one. By this device the Lords were obliged to acquiesce in the repeal of the papW duty, or else to incur the responsibility of rejecting the whole financial scheme . for the year. The Bndget became law, and Gladstone was'triumphant." ■-'.:'•: ■■■■':■' ■;