IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2695, 28 December 1909, Page 5

IMPERIAL POLITICS.

MORE VITUPERATION BY LLOYD-

GEORGE

United Press Association—Copyrigut. LONDON, Dec. 26. /

Mr. Lloyd-George, speaking, at Llanelly, said: “The Lords are in a tra.p. When I recall the contemptuous things they said on the Welsh' •question, I am glad to think that a Welshman set that trap, 'We. caught large rats at .last.” He declared: ‘ -Mr. Brodrick made such a mess in the War Office that the Tory- Government’ could stand him no longer, and sent him to the India Office to help Lord Curzon to muddle the affairs of the Indian Empire. Each has just enough intelligence to know that the other is a muddler, but neither has quite enough to know how to do better.” The Unionist newspapers contrast Mr Lloyd-Gcorge’s language with Lord Morley’s splendid eulogy of Lord Curzon on the 23rd February. A TARIFF* REFORMER'S WARNING. Air. Bonar Law (Conservative member for Camberwell), speaking at Sunderland, said: “If you return a Unionist Government, its first act will be to alter the fiscal system, and do a great deal to remedy the evil of unemployment.” Emphasising the connection between tariff reform and national deficit, be added} “If Britain loses the control of the iron and steel trades, she will inevitably lost the power to compete for ship-building, in which our supremacy is rapidly disappearing at the present time.”

REFORM OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

The “Telegraph” further suggests, in regard to the House of Lords, that 100 non-hereditary Peers should be distributed among the overseas' dominions. Such representatives to be'elected by a plebiscite or a vote of the local legislatures, as the dominions may decide. Also that chambers of commerce and learned societies nominte other members, and that Catholics, Nonconformists, and Jews should occupy some of the present episcopal seats. The general impression is that Lord ' I Rosebery has inspired the “Telegraph” scheme. A CATHOLIC PASTORAL. Archbishop Bourne and the Roman Catholic bishops of the Westminster province, in a pastoral, declare that it is the Catholics’ duty to support only the candidates who will secure just treatment for their schools. DIVISION IN THE NATIONALIST RANKS.

The “Times” Dublin correspondent reports a remarkable division in the Nationalist rank s owing to the Budget. The objections to the Redmondite candidates, he says, recall the Parnell split.