IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15332, 15 June 1910, Page 7

IMPERIAL POLITICS.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL STRUGGLE. PROGRESS OF NEGOTIATIONS. CORONATION OATH. United Press Association—By Electrie Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, June 13. Tho Primo Minister, referring to the proposed round tablo conference, said that eortain communications had passed between himself and. Mr Balfour, which ho hoped might at an early date lead to a. mooting between them. Mr Asiqiiith also stated that he intended at an early date to bring in legislation to modify the King's declaration regarding the Roman Catholicfaith. (The Declaration was originally embodied in the famous Parliamentary Test Act of 1677, and was intended for members of Parliament only, not for the Sovereign. It was in the Bill of Rights, passed in 1689, that the monarch was required to make the Declaration on his accession.)

WOMAN SUFFRAGE. (Received June 11, 11.10 p.m.) LONDON, .Line 14. Mr Aequith will receive a deputation from tho National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies on June 21. A TIME OF TRUCE. Mr M'Kenna, speaking at North Monmouthshire, said that in tho present condition of national feeling it was best that a truce should reign, but tho Liberals wero unable to abandon any matter of principle. He pleaded that in this time of truco it should be agreed that tho Navy should, never again be made a subject of electioneering battle.

BY-ELECTIONS. (Received June 14, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, Juno 14

Writs have been issued for by-elec-tions for Hartlepool and East Dorset, to replace Sir C. Furness and Mr Guest, tho unseated members.

Tn the House of Commons, Mr A. Markham urged that tho East Dorset writ should bo suspended during the session owing to the Wimborne family's intimidation."

Mr H. Belloc seconded tho proposal, which Mr Rufus Isaacs strongly opposed.

THE DECLARATION. The Test Declaration, administered by way of oath to a now Sovereign of .Britain, is as follows: " I, A. 8., do solemnly and sincerely, in tho presence of God, profess, testify and declare that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into tho Body and Blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any porson whatsoever: And that the Invocation or Adoration of__the Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous. And I do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify and declare that I do make* this Declaration, and every part thereof, in tho plain and ordinary sense of the words road unto me, as they aro commonly understood by English Protestants, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever, and without any Dispensation already granted me for this purpose by the Pope, or any other authority or porson whatsoever, or without any hope of any such Dispensation from any person or authority whatsoever, or without thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God, or man, or absolved of this Declaration or any part thereof, although the Pope, or any other person or persons, or power whatsoever, should dispense with or annul tho same, or declare that it was null or void from tho beginning."