HOME RULE BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15168, 6 December 1912, Page 7

HOME RULE BILL.

FOUR MORE CLAUSES PASSED. LORD LIEUTENANT'S STATUS. SUGGESTED. REFERENDUM. UNIONIST PROPOSAL. By Telegraph— Press Association— (Received December 5, 10 p.m.) London, December 5. Clauses 29 to 32 (inclusive) of the Home Rule Bill were passed with the assistance of the guillotine' at yesterday's sitting of the House of Commons. An amendment seeking to compel Ireland to pay the Lord Lieutenant's salary and expenses instead of contributing £5000 a year was rejected. Mr. Asquith stated that the Government intends that the status of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under the Home Rule > scheme should be similar to that of an overseas Governor. He agreed to specifically define the status. ' i

The Marquis of Lansdowne (Leader of the Unionist party in the House of Lords), in a speech last night, said that an agreement to submit the question of tariff reform to a referendum, would be conditional on the Government also submitting the Home Rule question to a vote of the people. The offer, he said, would not hold good for all time.

In referring to the guillotine, in a speech at Cheltenham, Lord Crewe (Secretary of State for India), said that it was not altogether a desirable weapon, but it was the only one that the Government could use to pass measures for which the country had long waited.