The Dominion. SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1910. THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1910. THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

A great many colonials must have been struck anew during the past, few days by the great superiority, in substance and in manner, of the speeches in the House of Lords debates over the speeches in the House of Commons. In nono of the Peers' speeches, whether they come from the Liberal or the Unionist side, is thero anything trivial or trumpery —nothing in the nature of an appear to inllamed ignorance, nothing of ad captrtndwm Areamcnt. "And [ this is the Assembly,- a colonial may

be excused for thinking, "—this Assembly in which Lord Lansdown'e, Loud Morley, and Lord Rosebery are only the leaders of brother Peers .little their inferior in brain or temper—which is represented as a House of fatuous Dukes ripe, and rotten ripe, for destruction in the interests of Britain." "The colonial view" is fortunately of little consequence in tho conflict between the Government and. the Upper House, but it has again been appealed to, and this time by a Unionist Peer. Lord Quezon's statement that the House of Lords is looked upon with "respect" by the colonies is perfectly true in the sense that practically every colonial whose opinion is worth anything is devoted to the bi-cameral system of legislation. Colonials no doubt are convinced that the interests of Britain, and therefore of the Empire, are better served by the retention of a revising Assembly in which sit Buch men as those Peers we have named, and many others no less able and patriotic than _by _ the investiture of recklesfl politicians with an untrammelled authority over the nation's and the Empire's affairs. The. colonies are interested in the constitution and power of the House of Lords to the extent of their interest in the well-being of the Motherland, and we are sure that we state public opinion in_ this country correctly when we say that intelligent New Zealanders, while they dislike the principle that men shall sit in the House of Lords merely because they are their fathers sons, have only contempt for the idea that the Lords are accursed because they happened not to approve of the Budget. . ■ . "■ In the meantime the position of the Government is becoming more /instantly perilous than eVer. Mr. Asquith has not yet announced the form which the Government's resolutions will take, but a speech by Sir Edward Grey, arid a statement by the generally well-informed Parliamentary correspondent.. of the Times, point to the adoption by the Government of.the idea of an Upper House either, wholly, or partially elective. If this is the Government's intention, there should be no very serious difficulty about the discovery of a common basis of agrcemont, with the Peers themselves! For Lord Rosebery's third resolution is a denunciation of the principle that the possession of a Peerage should of itself bo a qualification for membership of the Second Chamber, and Lord Quezon's scheme, as sketched to-day in three clauses, so little insists on the rights of lineage as to provide for outsie'e electoral colleges and a power of selection by the Government of the day. Loud- Lansdowne, whose speech is also reported this morning, takes up , a much more conservative attitude. He evidently dreads such a reform as will change the name of the House, which js a small matter, and , its traditions, which are a matter, of the greatest moment, at'the'same time as it changes the constitution of the Assembly. Those' rabid Radicals who, in the colonies, as well as in Bri? tain, believe that a Peer is. essentially unfit to exercise'judgment' in political , affairs, arefnot the people who have the settlement of the present crisis, but oven the most moderate and , broad-minded ' reformer, though he may appreciate the force, of Lord. Lansdowne's:contentions, will realise that they can have effect only in encouraging ■ care and thoughtfulness'.in the drafting of the reforms that; must-be made. We give-in another column to-day an account of the various attempts at reform that havo been made during the past forty years, and from this it is'not difficult to conclude-that the framing of a hew Constitution that will satisfy the needs of the age and safeguard, the interests of the nation can be drawn up if sincerity and patriotism are given room to work in.

-The prospects of reform, however, are for the present darkened by the attitude of the extreme Radicals and the Nationalists. Reform is the very last thing' that- ■ they desire/ ; They are conscious that any. Second Chamber that is possible will be an'enemy of their desire ,l unless it is rendered unable to keep in check the vagaries of a temporary majority born of a gust of popular passion. Nobody, wo believe, lias ever suggested that the have any. control b,ver a Money Bill that is purely a Money Bill and nothing else.. A formal restriction of the powers of the Lords in this respect would be' accepted ■ without a word of dissent from anybody; but any effective extension of that restriction would mean the establishment .in fact, though not in name, of a uni-cameral Legislature. The Spectator makes this clear by considering what would happen if itho Lords agreed to a Bill for the abolition of their veto. The' Government, driven to it by, Mr. Redmond, would at once introduce a Home Rule Bill, which would be rejected by/the Peers. Mr. Redmond, still master of the situation, would demand the instant re-intro-duction of the Bill a second and then a third time. And thus "the only result of the so-called 'suspensory veto of the House of Lords would be that Bills would be read nine times in the Commons instead ' of EEree. . . . Iri.a word, the abolition of the Lords' veto would merely add another stage to the legislative ceremonial of the House of Commons.": : The fact that the Government, if the indications are pliable, are contemplating the junction of a reform scheme with its r "vetp" resolutions shows that Cabinet is by no means unanimous about "smashing tho Lords." So. at any rate tliink the Labour members, tho Nationalists, and the extremists whose opinions are voiced by the British Weekly. For the Labour members find Sir Edward Grey's suggestions of reform "extremely distasteful"; Mr. Redmond is "perfectly sure" that there will be a general election in a few weeks; and .the British Weekly declares that "the Nonconformists' enthusiasm for the Government is. nearly worn out." The certainty of the Government's dofcat really makes tho question of the Lords' authority no longer a practically urgent one, and it is almost certain that when the present crisis is a thing of the past the Uppor House will retain unimpaired its power of referring doubtful policies to the country. Not the least' interesting feature of the present situation is the fact that in fighting its hopeless' battle against the Lords—hopeless because it is a battle against a much stronger and more vital and enduring thing than the peerage, namely, the bi-cameral system of legislation—the .Government has allowed the Budget to cool on the shelf. "The Budget!" will be a very uninspiring battle-cry when the appeal is made to the country, and there is no other cry that the Government . can use with much prospect of success. About 400 members of the Wellington T.M.C.A. are expected, to take part in the annual Easter encampment this year at Otalri. The oarapers will loave on Thursday *«*■