IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7663, 24 June 1896, Page 2

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

London, June 22. Mr Balfour said that 1200 amendmeats had been tabled to the Voluntary Schools Bill. This was unparalleled in parliamentary history, and the opposition had destroyed all chance of getting the Bill through during the present session. June 23. — In referring to the Voluntary Schools Bill, Mr Balfour said that in five nights they had only passed two lines of the Bill. He dealt at length with the voting hostile to Government proposals, and said that at the present rate of progress it would require 84 days to get the measure through. Tn deeply regretted the evidences of parliamentary decay, especially during the last week, and in some respects for the whole session, and declared that it was ominously inevitable that a change must occur. In concluding he stated that the Bill would be submitted again early in January. It was especially desired to relieve voluntary schools. The Unionists are much discontented at the action of the Government! with regard to the Bill. The Times declares that the abandonment of the proposals by the Government will simply encourage the efforts of the Opposition. The House of Commons haa carried the third reading of the Diseases of Animals Bill, and the House of Lords, by a majority of 29, has carried the second reading of a Bill legalising marriage with a deceased wife's sister.