SPEAKER OPPOSED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 181, 5 August 1935, Page 8

SPEAKER OPPOSED

THE BRITISH ELECTIONS A CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE I British Oincial Wireless, j Received Aug. 4, 5.5 p.m. kUuBY, Aug. 2. A constitutional question ol some dilnculty with rciereuee to the Bpcakciship of tne Commons has been occupying lhe a; tendon of the Goverumc.it and Parliamentarians in recent weeks. A constitutional convention. Wiiicii with rare exception has been observed in recent nisiury, is that tne member chosen as Bpeuner siiould nut be opposed m his constituency by the caiidiaaies uf other parties during fiis term of unice. In this way the juaiciai altitude of the chair is safeguaidcd xiom tne embarrassment of an electoral contest. Local politicians, however, in the constituencies represented by the Speaker, have criticised the vutorced inactivity and claimed that the rule has amounted to disenfranchisement.

In lhe case of the present Speaker, Cap.a.n Fttzroy, the local Labour 1 arty in Daventry, lor which he sils, has decided to nominate a candidate tor the next general election, ami the candidature has been approved by the national executive, while the Labour Party, in conference, has suggested alterations in the law to provide that the Speaker, on election, should not continue to represent a particular con-

Othej suggestions for meeting the difliem’y have been advanced and criticised by authorities on constitutional grounds, but it is revealed in a letter

iiom Mr. Baldwin to Mr. Lloyd George, published yesterday, that the enquiries he has made show' that none of the suggestions considered by the Government will be generally acceptable in parliamentary circles.

Air Lloyd George had written to the Premier as “Father of the House of Commons” to offer his services in solving the difficulty. Mr Baldwin replied with the suggestion that in the circumstances if th(> Speaker were opposed, leading members of the House without distinction of party, might visit his

vonst itnenev ami appeal for his return, and he announced that he, Mr Ramsay MacDonald and Sir John Simon were prepared to do this, Mr Herbert Samuel, for the Liberal Party, subsequently signified his willingness to oo

Air Lansbury has now issued a statement. further explaining the reasons for the action of the local Labour Party, and emphasising the respect of fh ( > Labour Parly for the dignity of the Speaker’s high office. Both Mr Lansbury and the Prime Minis.tcr emphasise that lhe question is not h paitv one. 'l’here. is opinion in p'dilical circles that there will be a compromise.