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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 23, 26 September 1884, Page 7

•' Verax," the editor of the Manchester Weekly Aieww, writing on the House of Lords ill his weekly letter in the Times, has the following remarks about the Irish and Scotch representative pjers:— At the union of Scotland with England the Scotch peers were not admitted in a body to the House of Lords. They were empowered to elect sixteeu from among themselves who should sit as their representatives, and such a choice is made at every general election. The whole body meet at Holyrood and name their men, and those selected sit in the House of Lords as representative Scotch peers for the Parliament ensuing. Since the more distingui-hed of the Scotch peers are raised as occasion offers or is made to the dignity of the peerage of the United Kingdom, it happens that the resituumof the local peerage tends to become more and more obscure, and, in a political sense less influential. But the circumstance we have chiefly to note is this. A majority of the Scotch peers are Tories. Hence, with rare exceptions, they choose peers of Tory politics to represent them ; so that instead of a mixed band of libe-als and Tories, a contingent aim at wholly Tory is sent to Westminster. The same thing happens with the Irish peer?. By the Act of Union twenty-eight Irish peers were to sit in the House of Lor in as r. present* tives of the rest. They are elected, not for each Parliament, but for life. As the majority of ihe Irish peers are Turies, the elected peers are also Tories and thus another contingent of Tory peers are marched to Westminster. Putting the Scotch and Irish representative peers together, we have a body of 44 strong, who place thi-maelvea »t the command of the Tory leader of the House of Lords for the time being He carries their vote in his pocket,