REFORM OF LORDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 February 1936, Page 2

REFORM OF LORDS

LABOUR MEMBER’S PLEA. [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY, February 12. A ’ motion by Lord Ponsonby, in favour of giving the Peers the right to vote in elections for, and to offer themselves for election to, the Hou,se of Commons, was defeated in the Lords, by 27 votes to 16. In proposing the motion, Lord Ponsonby called attention to the privileges of peerage fallen" into disuse, and instanced the right of Barons to two and' of Marquesses to five chaplains, for disuse of which he declined, amid laughter, to offer explanations. At one time, he said, the person of a peer was both sacred and inviolable. Lord Ponsonby commented that during the period he had the honour to be their Lordships’ House, he had not been given any demonstration of this sacredness of his person. He urged that no disability should be allowed to prevent peers from giving their services if they wished to the House of Commons, in which they would be in closer touch with public affairs.

Lord Onslow, opposing, said that if peers were allowed to become members of the Commons, it would drain the life blood of the House of Lords, to which it was the duty of peers to give their services. The Lord Chancellor, for the Government, said it was not wise to attempt to deal with the problem of the reform of the House of Lords, piecemeal.