The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1911. THE AFTERMATH.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1225, 6 September 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1911. THE AFTERMATH.

. ; —e The constitutional issue in Great Britain, although temporarily overshadowed by the industrial revolt and the dangerous turn of the international situation, will very soon be in the forefront of public interest again. The central fact of the position appeared to us—and we cannot understand how it can appear otherwise to any thoughtful person so far removed as New Zealanders are from tho occasion or the necessity to take a heated or biased view of the party struggles in Britain—to be this: that as amended by the Lords the Parliament Bill met and removed all the actual grievances of the Liberals. The complaint was that the Lords enjoyed the power to reject Money Bills and also to reject measures of Liberal "social reform. , ' The Bill as it came back from the Lords concoded in full the Liberal demands on both these points. Mil. Asquith, however, could not accept the amendments because the Lords had excluded Home Rule from the operation of the Bill. It was not that Home Rub lias anything to do with Liberal "social reform," or that power to pass Home Rule was any part of the original Liberal demand, or was even a part of Liberal policy when tho war opened in 1909. Th'o Government's extraordinary attitude was due siinnly to the fact that Mr. Redmond had in the meantime secured the balance of power and had given orders to the Government that had at last come under his thumb.

"Mn. AsQiUTii forgot altogether the maxim of Mr. Gladstone that the Liberals should not in such circumj stances deal with the Irish question. These are the facts that we have ! been pointing out for months past. That the} , are not merely "one way of looking at" the question is clear to everyone who can think clearly, but for the benefit of any doubters we may quote from a leading article printed on July '20 last by the London Tablet, the- most important IJoman Catholic newspaper printed tha English language. The TabIt't puts the position with its usual ■ power and lucidity. Tho Peers are represented as Irving to defeat (he will of tho people, and"jo ilv. Asfiuilli calls in the King to redress tho bahiiico and ti give effect to the voles of til'! nation. But what was it ihe' people Vanted? It limy be taken that the Inst election decided twi thiiißs—that tho Poors' claim to interfere with Money Bills should bo ended, nnd their right to black Liberal lotjir-lation indefinitely should be drastically modified. To effect this double object the Pailinmcnt Bill was introduced. But Hie Bill lias been pn-sed in both Houses, and every purpore it was designed to serve has been Rnined. The demand of the Government that tho House of Lords should give up tha claim to exercise control over finance (ins been conceded, and in the very words devised by the victors at t!ie polls. Never again by their own admission, can the Peers amend, or even delay, a Money Bill. The original of quarrel between tho two Houses has admittedly disnpjicaral. The right to amend or reject a Budget is not even claimed by 'the .Peers. . . . The other thing which tho late election may be held to "linvo deferiniiied is that the absolute Veto of the llonso of Lords upon Liberal legislation is indefensible, llere, again, the House of Lords has given way and accepted tho verdict of the polls as final. They accept tlio clause in the Parliament Bill which enacts that whatever the Commons say throe times is true. They concede that any Bill passed in three successive sessions shnll becom° law, any action of tho House of Lords.notwithstanding. All that has I>mi\ accepted in the terms of the Government Bill. The sole ground of complaint is that the Peers propose to except certain measures from this rule. They make no. pretension to set up their will against the wishes of the people. On the contrary, their offence is that they want some security that what the people really want shall happen. Here wo get to the. difference between the two Houses. Tho Government claim a patent which enables them to know on .ill occasions and on all subjects what tho country wishes; the Peers suggest that there is a certain clas.s of really important subjects on which it. would be more prudent to nsk the people to express, their opinion. The Tablet says quite frankly that Mr. Asquitji has taken advantage of the inexperience of the King to secure a power for which the political situation oHered no justification. It may be said th: Bill is law and it is no use to talk any more about it. But the real trouble" of Mn. Asquitii is just about to begin. Even before a_ Home Rule Bill is brought clown .discussion will have been concentrated for months upon trio violent course adopted by tho Government under Me. Uedmoxd's orders. The facts arc so simple as hardly to require more than the statement of them by the Unionists. As for the Liberals, what can they say in reply 1 They have got their Bill and they will be unable any more to confuse the issue, and turn attention away from the true inwardness of the Government's behaviour, by outcries against the Peers and lamentations about the veto on "social reform." They cannot even talk of "tho will of the people," because it is they who opposed the suggestion that tho Bill should provide for direct decision, by the will of the people as expressed-by the people themselves. Tho return of the Unionists to power at an early date is ; assured, and nothing is more preb-! able than that with the fall of tho political thermometer to normal the Liberals arc privately dismayed at tho gloomy outlook for them that they failed to foresee in their excitement and their anxiety for an immediate victory over tho Peers.