THE VETO BILL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1137, 26 May 1911, Page 5

THE VETO BILL.

HOUSE OF LORDS DEBATE. LORD MIDLETON FORESHADOWS AMENDMENTS. APPEAL BY THE PRIAIATE. Ey Telesraph-Pross Association-Copyristht London, May 21. Tlio House of Lords was crowded when Lord Morley, .on behalf of tho Government, moved the second rending of tho Parliament Bill. Lord Horlcy, Lord President of the Council, said the methods proposed by the Dill were not final; it would bo open to the Government, when tho Bill had pasted, to consider, with tho Unionists, the question of the reconstitutiou of tho Second Chamber. "Meanwhile," ho an* nounced, "the'Bill U therp, and that Bill stands." Lord Morley concluded by hoping that the Unionist leaders would avoid any course leading to tho necessity for extremities, and possibly the lauding of the country iu great difficulty-perhaps grave confusion. Lord Midleton, ex-Secretary of State for India, and a Unionist, said that, viewing the Bill as a temporary measure, it appeared to him not to be destined to remain on the Statute-book. Hβ recommended their Lordships to givo the Bill its second reading with a view to the moving in Committee of grave amendments providing for the exemption of the operation of tho Bill proposals relating to the position or powers of tho Monarch, Home Kule, and other constitutional issues. Tho Archbishop of Canterbury appealed for a compromise. Lord Lorcburn, Lord Chancellor, said there was no such prospect, but there were hopeful signs th.it there was the possibility of matter for consent hereafter, if the Liberals were given equality of opportunity in passing measures through tho reconstructed House of Lords. Fresh relations between tho Houses must be established. The debate was adjourned.

THE LORDS AND THE BILL. OPPOSITION PLANS. Though the" respective attitudes of the Coalition and of tho Unionist partv towards thu Parliament Bill grow slightly clearer, the "Morning Post," in a recent survey of the British crisis, finds it is impossible to say exactly what the future has in store. There are, it points out, obviously several alternative courses along which tho current of events may run. Ministers may carry their Bill practically intact through both Houses, they may accent minor amendment; in the' Lords, or they may embark on a renewed attempt to come to a general compromise with the Opposition on tho Constitutional issue as a whole. It has been impossible to substantiate the rumours of compromise ncgoti iti >ns in any.shape or form. If any such overtures have been made, the kmwledge of then must have been confine! to not more tha.i two or Him people on eith.-r side, anrl tho secret has leen extraordinarily well kept. Tho odds uro. on the poliey of "thorough" and of postponing erils till the necessary day of sottleovjut. On the Unionist side, continues the "Post," tho. final decision has not yd been taken, and is not, as some think unfortunately, likely to be taken for some time to come. . One determination of groat importance has, however, been eome to. Tho Lords will not throw out the Parliament Bill on the second reading, and whatever course they finally adopt will be taken in Committee. This looks .as if the form of attack will be one of drastic amendment. Whether the Government would dare to carry out the threat, put forward in some Liberal organs, of meeting any hostile action on the part of tho Lords by passing the Bill through ail its stages in a single day remains; to be scan. Amendment rather than rejection would make such n course of procedure extremely difficult. It is at least clear that at this stags nf affairs (he leul tug-of-vnr ovei- Uie Constitution must come. Till then the crisis remains in abeyance. Ministry' 3 Counter-Stroke. Writing of the possible rejection of the Bill by the House of Lords, Sir Henry Lucy, in a recent lotte." to tha Sydney "'Heral.l," sail: "It is a fundamental principle of Parliamentary legislation that a Bill may not be introduced a second time in the same session. . . . The seheme of'the Cabinet is as simple as it will be efficient, and was unexpected. The Veto Bill rejected, or otherwise destroyed, the cession will be wound up as speedily as possible, and Parliament will be prorogued. But the recess will not extern! beyond 21 hours. Simultaneously wiHi decree of prorogation there will be gazetted summons for the reassembling of Parliament for a new session opening two days after the sudden death of its predecessor. Disclosure of this counter-stroke has carried dismay into the Opposition camp, already rent by dissensions round the referendum and schemes for reform of tho House of Lords. It may have useful results in the way of strengthening tho hands of thbsc in the councils of Lord Lansdowne who recognise the futility of further wrestling with the popular will, emphatically expressed at two general elections taken within a period of twelve laonths."