IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4573, 18 February 1893, Page 3

IMPERIAL POLITICS.

THE HOME RULE BILL. BREACH OF PRIVILEGE. [Spxcial to Pbess Association.! . LONDON, Feb. 16. Mr Buxton, TJnder-Secretary for the Colonies, said no change had been made in the practice of appointing Colonial Governors. There was a scene in the House of Commons to-day, Mr Sexton accusing i Viscount Wolmer, the member for West Edinburgh, of falsely alleging I th*t the Irish members were paid by | the Gladstonians. Viscount Wolmer apologised. On the motion of Mr Sexton, the editor of the Times was ordered to be summoned to the bar of the House for stating that the Payment of Members Bill was to be introduced in.order to relieve the financiers of the Liberal Party from the necessity of supporting the clerical contingent, j whereby' corruption was implied. The House also unanimously agreed that the Times articles describing the I Irish members of the House of Commons as paid mercenaries was a breach of privilege. Lord Churchill said the Home Rule Bill was a constitutional revolution. There was no adequate cause for it, and the whole measure was grotesque. It would be impossible to conduct the | Imperial Government with two separate majorities in the House of Commons. The scheme would allow the Irish members almost irresistible' I power of. extracting concessions. He. felt confident that the constituencies, if appealed to, would reject the Bill. The Dublin Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Mr J. Morley, Chief Secretary for Ireland,, against the decision respecting his refusal to allow the police to protect sheriffs. ' ■ ■;■'-- • ./ ; - : ' ; Fbb. 17. . Commenting on the action of the House of Commons, the, Times says, "As Viscount Wolmeti has apologised, so do we, who used his words ; but we repeat ' the Irish are paid by the enemies of England.' " The report of the Parnell . Commission is quoted to that effect, and the Times concludes by saying, "Gladstone and his Irish allies have been compelled to* 1 resurrect Parliamentary privilege to quell a hostile newspaper." The Times strongly protests against the threatened curtailment of the freedom of the Press.