DRAMATIC PAGE IN HISTORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 84

DRAMATIC PAGE IN HISTORY.

THE LORD'S LOSE THE POWER OF VETO. I By a majority of 131 votes to 114 the House of Lords decided not to irsist on their amendments to the Parliament Bill. This result was reached after a debate, always animated, often accompanied by high feeling, and in its closing passages marked by exciting and unexpected incidents such as rarely disturb the even and decorous flow of Peers' debates. It was evident 'that Lord Morley had meant to reserve his speech for the close of the debate, but he was virtually forced to his. feet by the public opinion of the House to answer several questions asked the previous day, and now repeated by Lord Midleton. The most important of them was : —Had the Government authority for the creation of such a number of Peers as they thought necessary? Lord Morley, reading with deliberation and emphasis, announced that if the bill should be defeated his Majesty would consent to the creation of Peers sufficient in number to guard against any possible combination of tht different parties in opposition by which the Parliament Bill might be exposed a second time to defeat. In other words, explained Lord Morley, every vote given for instance on Lord Lansdowne's amendments was a vote in favour of a large and a prompt, creation of Peers. Thus to some extent the air was cleared by the explanations of the Leader of the House, for Lord Morley was again acting in that capacity in Lord Crewe's absence. Lord Rosebery followed. His speech was at first somewhat contradictory. At one point he attached significance to the result of the last two elections, and at another he discounted them as having been influenced by old-age pensions. The most important part of the speech was the impressive appeal with which it closed, that the Peers should refrain from further and necessarily futile opposition to the bill. It must pass. Lord Haisbury demurred to the suggestion, though his muttered interjections did not make it clear that he hoped for more than a few weeks' or months' delay. ■; —A Divided Party.— To this speech, delivered with all the art of the accomplished orator, the reply of Lord Milner was a striking contrast. He stood with his eyes fixed on the table in front of him, and spoke in a low and often inaudible monotone, as if thinking aloud rather than addressing an audience. His main argument was that if the House yielded to a threat on this occasion it would be liable to be overborne in a similar manner wheneveir it attempted to exercise the power nominally entrusted to it by the Parliament Bill. The Unionist Front Bench had already given ample evi- ; dence of its cleavage of opinion. The occupants of the back benches now proceeded to do the same.: Lord . Camperdown and the Duke of Norfolk, with abundant expressions of mutual respect and affection, had diametrically opposite views. Lord Gampardown" held it to be inexpedient and unwise to prolong a resistance admittedly futile, while the Duke, who had originally agreed to accept Lord Lansdowrie's advice, now felt bound to cancel .any Unionist vote given for the bill rather than enable it to be said that the measure had been carried by Unionist votes. Lord Halifax took a similar view. The closing days .of the late Sovereign had been embittered if not shortened, and the new King had been sacrificed in order to buy Mr Redmond's support for the Government. —The Archbishop's View.— So great was the number of Peers desiring to speak that the sitting was not suspended during the dinner hour. The Archbishop of Canterbury said he had intended to abstain, but the callousness and even levity with which some Peers regarded the creation of Peers had convinced him that he should vote with the Government. The division was about to - be taken when, to the general surprise, Lord Rose-, bory again intervened. He spoke in low" tones. "Speak up !" oried some members. "Yes," he replied angrily, "I shall speak up." He was not on his feet for more than a minute. His purpose was to announce that he would vote with the Government, in spite of his abhorrence of the bill. The surprises of the evening were not yet at an end. When Lord Rosebery sat down, Lord Selborne sprang excitedly to his feet, and, reading from the official report, asked the House to weigh the advice just given in the light of what Lord Rosebery said on the 29th of May, when he declared he could see no use in prolonging the existence of that House as a useless sham to delude the people of. this country into tlie belief that they still had a Second Chamber. Lord Selborne flung the pamphlet contemptuously on the table. His supporters cheered vociferously. Had his dramatic sense been keener, ho would have sat down at once. He spoke for some minutes more, merely repeating the arguno-enta of his frienda

—A Thrilling Scene.— Th>en the question w.as put from the woolsack. Lord Lansdowne and his friends walked out of the House. To judge from the sound of the voices, Lord Halsbury and his friends seemed in the majority, and that impression was strengthened by the distribution of the forces in the House. The process of clearing the House was longer than usual, for each side seemed disposed to wait a* long as possible in the Chamber in order to lorm some estimate of the other's strength. Even at this moment no one would have predicted the result with confidence. The first clue to it was given by the fact that Lord Halsbury's supporters were all out of the division lobby when the Ministerialists were still filing in. But that was not conclusive, for the Opposition had been moving more smartly. The matter w.as placed beyond doubt when, on the tellers reaching the table, the clerk gave the paper bearing the • result to Lord Hersohell, the representative of the Government. He handed the slip to the Lord Chancellor with a low bow. "Contents, 131 ; Not Contents, 114," announced Lord Loreburn. There was an outburst of vociferous cheering from- the Government side, more suggestive of House of Commons demonstrations than of the restraint which the Peers usually observe. Mingled with the cheers was a slight hissing from the other side, presumably directed more especially at those Unionists who, by their support of the Government, had turned the nicely-balanced scales. The demon stration was as brief as it was unusual. A few minutes later the Chamber was deserted.