THE VETO BILL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 5 May 1911, Page 5

THE VETO BILL

, THROUGH COMMITTEE. BY CABLE—PEES 3 ASSOCIATION—COPYEIGBT. (Received May 5, 8 a.m.) * LONDON, May 4. Mr Barnes' amendment to omit the preamble from the Veto Bill was defeated by 218 to ,47, the Opposition abstaining from voting. Mr: Barnes said that the elected second chambers of the dependencies "Were more" obstructive than the. hereditary chamber of Britain. The scheme foreshadowed by the Government tvoujdinyolve Parliament and the co^Jß^in a long and bitter" controy^^> during which the Government n»B"t Be destroyed. Mr'Asquith said they could not rest Mth* the second chamber as at present constituted, and he was satisfied that in the interests of any democratic country a second chamber was desirable, provided it was clothed with definite and limited functions in > nowise competing as against the popular "will. With .elected representatives of the people arid limited functions for revision, consultation and delay a second chamber* was desirable. The Government considered it obligatory, time permitting, i;o propose during the present Parliament a scheme for the -reform of the Lords under the Veto Bill. Mrßalf our declared that consultation, revision, and delay ought to be the Lords' main functions, but he deprecated the Commons holding the destinies of the country in its hands. The Bill passed committee by 265 to 147. ■V The Times suggests that many Ministerialists favor passing the Opposition's Reform of the Lords Bill on condition that the Veto Bill applies to the reformed chamber.