THE APPEAL TO THE THRONE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7111, 25 April 1910, Page 6

THE APPEAL TO THE THRONE

Sir Edward Carson's bitter jibe that the Peers who might bo appointed in order to secure the passage of certain legislation through the House of Lords "would he the scavengers of the Liberal party who had sold themselves for a dirty job" is instructive as an indication of the venom with which Mr Asquith's policy is being met. Tho probabilities are, of course, that no such appointments would ever be made, for it would be quite enough if it were > announced that tho Throne intended to take a particular course in the event of certain contingencies. The Lords would then swallow the Veto Bill, holus bolus. A threat of the kind was necessary to obtain the sanction of the House of Lords to the first Reform Bill. In any case peerages have been earned by much less worthy publio service than would be given in this instance. On the day the Lords threw the Septennial Act into the waste-paper basket and tho Budget back to tho Commons they took the first stop upon a journey of which no ono could see tho end. From that moment the country set out to discover where tho seat of authority rests under tho constitution. The vicissitudes of this journey, may be -great, but until tho 'discovery is mado there can bo no turning back without disaster. Just at the moment the question is whether the Throne will see unmoved a condition of affairs under which an irresponsible minority seeks 1 to establish a position of legislative omnipotence, to usurp the authority of Commons over; Ministries and to destroy the) principle of Ministerial responsibility to the Crown. ' The House of Lords is . under the control of the Crown now, but no other power can reach it, no other safety-valve exists for relief of the tension of the hour. If the Crown may l not now exercise tflie powers of amelioration: it possesses then representative government has ended and the gate of revolution thrown open. The motives for action by the Crown for its own protection and maintenance of tho privileges of the people could not be greater than they are to-day. Were tho Lords to escape from control of the Throne a new chapter in history would commence. Cold claptrap about "scavengers" has no relevancy in such an issue' as this.