THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Evening Star, Issue 12882, 3 August 1906, Page 4

THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Mr Lloyd George, President of the Board of Irade, in a recent speech, said that it was time to begin to scrutinise calmly the claims of the Lords to override the will of the people.—(Loud and prolonged cheers.) He had always felt that they were a great standing menace to progress, and he had never felt it so much as since he had taken his share as a responsible Minister. Thoy were like a skeleton at the Cabinet table. They would not reject great measures. They would hardly dare that, but there were others which large sections of the community demanded in their own interests, apart from the rest of the people. These they could eject with impunity; still worse, they could disfigure and mutilate them.—(" Shame.") That was where the mischief of this House came in. The House

of Lords represented the idleness of the country. There was not a workman there. •HHear, hear.) Why should not friend Mr Vman be Lord Birkenhead ?—{Laughter. ) Why should not be himself be Lord Carnarvon?-MGreat laughter and cheers.) the gentleman known by (hat name had never been inside the He would not so much mind about the House of Lords if they were men of superior intelligence.—(Loud laughter.) There were, it was true, men of great intellect amongst them, bat they had mostly gone up from, the House of Commons.— (Loud laughter.) -The only part art of life that the peer knew was the expenditure part of it. Partly by the accident of birth they sat in judgment as a court of appeal upon the representatives of millions of people. It.was an intolerable piece of nrro-gance.r-(Loud cheers.) No Liberal Government cojold possibly sit under it if the Lords continued to put forward their claims to decide the fate of this or thai BUl.—(Cheers) It was not too early to begin to co'nsider carefully, calmlv, before the hour oi anger and real indignation came, what claim an assembly of this sort had to set itself up as a court of appeal in respect to the decisions arrived at by the people. Referring to the Education Bill, Mr Lloyd George said he did not object to the protest which was made, but he did object to it being made in the name oi religion.—(Loud cheers,)