LADY RHONDDA’S TRIUMPH

Evening Star, Issue 17954, 27 April 1922, Page 11

LADY RHONDDA’S TRIUMPH

——— SHOULD GALVANSIE HOUSE OF LORDS. PBINOESS MARY'S POSITION.' [From Due London Comiespondent.] March 9. There is still a little ambiguity about the actual position of Lady Rhondda and those twenty other peeresses m their own right who, under the Sex Disqualification Removal Act, claim seats in the House of Lords. Although a strong, and represent;!tivo Comrmttco for Privileges luas fully conceded their claims, and tlio Crown offers no objection, it will be necessary, according to Viscountess Rhondda, for the House of Lords as a whole to approve the decision. That, there will be any difficulty or delay in this matter appears improbable in the circumstances. _ The Lord Chancellor is strongly on the side of the ladies. Among the twenty or so peeresses in their own right who may exorcise this newly- asserted privilege are Princess Arthur of Connaught (as Duchess of Fife), the Duchess of Norfolk (as Baroness Merries), Viscountess Wolscley, and Viscountess Roberts. Bat what about Princess Mary herself? Surely this sex disqualification is now removed all round. In which case, what is to prevent a princess of the blood sitting in the .House of Lords beside her Royal brothers? It is fitting that it should have been Lady Rhondda who assorted this feminine right, for her ladyship, who inherits the great business aptitude and intense vitality of her famous father, has been consistently in the van of the woman’s movement. She is a lady in early middle-age, handsome and attractive, but remorselessly intellectual, director of several big concerns, and something of, a journalist, as well as a newspaper proprietor. She is emphatically not the sort of person who suffers fools' either gladly or otherwise, and she will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the Upper House.