REFORM OF THE LORDS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13339, 30 March 1911, Page 5

REFORM OF THE LORDS.

LORD LANSOOWNE’S BILL. Press' Association.— Telegraph Copyright. : . ' LONDON, March 29. In the House'of Lords Lord Lansdowne remarked that his Bill, like any for the reconstitution of the Lords, necessarily touched the Royal'prerogative. He was satisfied, as the result of inquiries, that any such Bill required the previous sanction of the Crown. PRESS OPINIONS. LONDON, March 29. Lord Lansdowne’s notice of an address to the King is the whole topic of discussion in political circles. , ? Newspapers express divergent views regarding the Cabinet’s probable advice to the King regarding the introduction of Lord Lansdowne’s Bill. > The Chronicle says that Ministers nay perhaps advise the. Crown to consent ;o its introduction, lest the Government be accused of depriving the Lords of power to discuss the question of their own reform, and straining the Constitution in the Liberal interests. Lord Lansdowno’s policy has been summarised as follows:—-The veto power must not be weakened; the number of peers to be reduced, but the whole of the peerage to select representativs of their own body; other peers to. sit without election, by virtue of public services; the Government of the day to also select a number of peers with a tenure long enough to be uninfluenced by general elections; the principle of life peerages to be extended so as to. cover renresentation of all the schools of political thought and great interests of the country. It was stated, last month that the House of ;Lofds Reconstruction Bill to be introduced by the Unionists would probably follow Lord Curzon’s scheme, with .modifications on the lines of Lord, Lansdowne’s; proposals. It is understood that Lord Curzon’s proposals are, shortly:—Picked fropiitlie present House of Lords, 100; ex-Cabinet Ministers and occupants of great posts in Dominions and dependencies,: 50.; elected for certain terms on democratic franchise. or nominated by local Self-governing bodies representing counties or great centres of population, 100. ■ :•