An Anomaly

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5, 1 February 1906, Page 19

An Anomaly

The Catholic Emancipation Act was but a niggardly and half-hearted measure. It left all sorts of exasperating exclusions and exceptions ; and, meagre as it is, it is not even yet in operation, as regards some of its principal provisions, in the. lodge-ridden cities and towns of Ulster. Lord Ripon's new position in the House of Lords leads a Home contemporary to make some observations in point. He is (says our contemporary) ' the very first Catholic who has held the position of Leader of the House of Lords. The office of Leader of the House of Lords, like that of Leader of Ihe House of Commons, is entirely unknown to the law, and was unknown in practice till at least two centuries after the Reformation, and all Lord Ripon's predecessors in the position were members of the Anglican Church. The Irish Lord Lieutenancy, however, could not be held by Lord Ripon as a Catholic, although he has filled the position of Governor-General for India, nor would he be eligible to act as one of the Lord Justices, by whom the functions of the office of Lord Lieutenant are' performed during the absence of the Viceroy from Ireland.'