What does he Mean ?

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 800, 10 February 1909, Page 2

What does he Mean ?

Premier Asquith. in a letter j to his supporters, dealing with the 're-assombling of Parliament, declares that matters will immediately arise of grave and urgent importance. Wiietulu it be iv matters financial or political, the whole world, and not tho British Empire, is affected by nhat is being dontj iv London. There throbs the pulse of the human universe; and all the world has been asking what the Premier of England meant in that message to Liberals published, as quoted above, in our cablegrams yesterday. What are the "matters of grave and urgent importance"? Kven in New Zealand we want to know, because, if it means that the Asquith Cabinet is really and i seriously going to tempt the House , of Lords to give a chance for an ap- : peal to the country, then we must prepare for a further term of financial stringency. But, with the King and Queen off to Berlin for a round of festivities and to arouse pro-British sentiment in Germany, it does not seem possible that Mr Asquith is preparing any particularly dangerous sort of bomb. Perhaps he is only seeking to keep his party on the gui vive. The "last session of Parliament, which began on January 29 and ended on December 19 last, was remarkable for the defeats inflicted upon the Liberal Party either by the House j of Lords or by the voluntary action of the Government. Thus the Licens- , ing Bill was killed in the Upper House, the Education Bill was dropped, and' the Irish Land Purchase Bill was | put away for a year. But the GovI eminent got some humanising measures through, and these will stand to their credit in the day of judgment. They included the Old-age Pension Act, under which, from January 1 last, 500,000 persons over 70 years of age receive pensions— a great boon in Great Britain and Ireland. Then there was the Children's Act, safeguarding the tender child that previously could be ill-used with impunity; also a measure to prevent the spread of disease amongst girl matchmakers; and an Act under which honra of labour in coalmines are shortened. As a little side-issue, penny postage with U.S.A. was granted. Now, what did Premier Asquith mean by putting his supporters on their guard? Tt is a cloud, at present no bigger than a man's hand, but