Evening Post. SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1910. THE PLOT THICKENS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 89, 16 April 1910, Page 4

Evening Po st. SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1910. THE PLOT THICKENS.

The plot is thickening at Westminster with nmnzing rapidity. After a sheaf of amendments, whiih ranged all the way from the payment of Labour members out of Trado Union funds to -the exclusion of Home Rule from tho scope of the Premier's second resolution, had been rejected by majorities aver, aging more than a hundred, tho guillotine fell upon the debate, and, .perhaps as having been sufficiently tested before, the lcsolution was apparently car ried without a division. The third resolution, which proposes to limit the term of a Parliament to five years, was then taken. No information is -supplied as to the nature of the discussion, and one might have hoped that tne Unionists would bo glad of a chance to display thrir icasoiiableness by support-ing so reasonable a proposal. But the figures ot tho division — ayes 333, noes 236 — show that this resolution was treated on the samo party lines as its two predecessors. Immediately after the resolutions had been reported from tho committee to the House, Mr. Asquith brought down tho Bill by which the i (JoMinmpiit seeks to give them legiolative efie< t, and the announcement was tho signal for a burst of intense enthwsi-. »sm from.hu supporter*. "Ttwxßibacafcj M<V" IW SW CAbltd.repcrt^-to-d**,,

"waving hats and handkerchiefs, and cheered themselves hoarse." The introduction of a Bill is usually a very commonplace -oaeasion, but the introduction of such a -measure as that to which tho Government is now committed is the event of a generation. Tho excitement was renewed as the Premier went on to make a statement for which he had previously sought an opportunity in vain. Towards tho close of the debate on the resolutions he had begun to make the statement, but Mr. Balfour succeeded in getting the chairman to rule him out of order under tho stricter rules of relevance which apply when the guillotine is in operation. Mr. Asquith was thus temporarily hoist with his own petard, but his chance came later. Spcakiii« to a packed House, in wlkicli every member is deecribed a* "tense and eagerly expectant," Mr. Asquith made his deferred statement on tho motion for tbe introduction of the Veto Bill; and, whatever tho outcome of the present atrug'gle, it is likely to remain a constitutional land-mark for a- long time to come. "If tho House of Lords docs not accept tbe Governmciiit's policy," said the Premier, "out duty is to advise the Crown as to the steps needed to give that policy statutory effect during this Parliament; and in the event of our inability to secure such effect, our duty is to resign or dissolve." Whatever ambiguity thero may havo been about tho analogous statement in Mr. Asquith's Albert Hall upcech, there is none here. Every word must have been carefully weighed and precisely settled by Cabinet, and committed to the paper from which tho statement was probably read verbatim. The only step by which statutory effect caii be given to the Veto Bill after tho Lords have rejected it will bo the creation of a. sufficient number of new peera to swamp tho hostile, majority. This would certainly be a "large order," for the majority against tho Budget was 275, ajid there i« no reason why, after tlie issue has changed to a direct attack on the. House of Lords, it should become any smaller. Mr. Asquith proceeded : "hi 'no caae would we recommend a dissolution except under conditions securing that the judgment of the people, aa expressed at an election, may be carried into law during tho next Parliament." This can only mean, a» Mr. Balfour takes it to mean, that the Government will not ask for a dissolution j unless satisfied that if the people declare for the Veto Bill, the King will bo prepared to make peers enough to secure its passing. Such a suggestion is described by Mr. Balfour as "nothing short of destruction of tho Constitution." It will certainly put the Crown in aji embarrassing position, and it will also embarrass the Unionists if, failing tho desired assurance, they are jxrked to take office during tho present Parliament. But further discussion of the momentous issue involved is forbidden for tho present by the limits of our space.