IMPERSAL POLITICS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2767, 23 March 1910, Page 5

IMPERSAL POLITICS.

A COMPLICATED POSITION. ANOTHER ELECTION ANTICIPATED NEXT MONTH. • United Press Association—Copyright LONDON, March 21. Mr. Keir Hardie, speaking at Merthyr, described Mr. Asquith’s speech at Oxford as “another bellyfull of East wind.” He ’believed the Government was riding for a fall. The newspapers of both parties refer to the eager preparation for an election, which some now anticipate will take place in April. Many questions have been asked in the House of Commons upon various phases of the financial position, but Mr. Asquith has refused all information except that at present the Government do not intend to have two Budgets rolled into one. They still intended, he states, to pass the Budget before the spring.

A Junior Imperial Constitutional League' has been formed, with Viscount Castlereagh as President. There are already fifty branches, and the movement is still spreading. The newspapers report that Messrs. O’Brien and Healy recently paid a visit to Mr. Lloyd-George. Mr. O’Brien writes that he has good reason to hope that the extra spirit duties and burdens on land, and the proposed general revaluation, will be dropped; otherwise the Budget and its authors and accomplices are doomed. The “Star” asks why the Premier and Mr. Redmond do not come to an arrangement immediately. The “Westminster Gazette” is unsympathetic towards any arrangement with the Nationalists. THE GOVERNMENT AND THE LORDS. THE VETO RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED. (Received March 22, 10 p.m.) LONDON, March 22. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr. Asquith detailed the Government’s veto resolutions as follows: (1) “it is expedient that the House of Lords should be disabled by law from rejecting or amending money Bills.” These are defined as Bills which the Speaker considers contain; only provisions dealing with the imposition,, repeal, remission, alteration, 'o.r .regulation of taxation, also chaTges on the consolidated "fund or the provision of money by Parliament, also supply -and: appropriation, control or regulation of public money, also raising, guaranteeing and repayment of Joans or matters incidental to these subjects.

(2) “It is expedient that the House of Lords’ powers respecting Bills other than money Bills be legally restricted, so that when a- Bill has passed the House of Commons three successive sessions, and) been sent to the House of Lords during the last month before the. end of the session, and rejected in each of the three sessions, it shall become law without the House of Lords’ consent upon Royal assent, provided that at least two years shall elapse between the first introduction to the House of Commons and the date when it passes the House of Commons for the third time. Bills shall be treated as rejected if not passed by the House of Lords without amendment or with only amendments agreed "to by both Houses. (3) The third resolution limits the. duration of Parliament to five years. [The present duration of Parliament is seven years.]

PRESS OPINIONS ON THE VETO

RESOLUTIONS

(Received March 22, 10.30 p.m.) The “Daily News” says that the Government’s veto resolutions will create profo-unS satisfaction throughout the country. They are not complicated by questions-of second Chamber reform. The '“Daily Chronicle'’'says that any serious disunion will be fatal. The ■'""passage of the Bu<ig,eti is~ essential. The “Times” complains of the resolutions making the Speaker sole judge of tacking. The resolutions are a shade less objectionable with a quinquennial than a septennial Parliament. THE RADICAL VIEW. Radical lobby opinion criticises the provision whereby two- years , are to elapse between the first introduction and the third rejection of a Bill, and complains that this will have the effect of sterilising the closing years of a Parliament’s existence.

LORD ROSEBERY’S RESOLUTIONS

The House of Lords agreed, in the committee stage, to two of Lord Rosebery’s resolutions. A lively discussion followed 1 Lord' Killanin’s proposal to limit the application of the third' resolution to future peerages. Lord Rosebery, the Duke of Northumberland,, and Lord Lansdowne urged Lord Killanin. to withdraw the amendment on the ground that it was open to criticism that the peers desired to preserve, their own interests. Lord Killanin agreed, and the debate was adjourned. [Lord Rosebery’s resolutions are as follow:—(1) That a strong and efficient Second Chamber, an integral part of the Constitution, is necessary for tho well-being of the State and the balance of Parliament. (2) That such a wnamber can best be obtained by the reform and reconstruction of the House of Lords. (3) That a necessary preliminary to such reconstruction is the acceptance of the principle that the possession of a Peerage no longer of itself

CABLE NEWS.

gives the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords.] A CONFERENCE WITH THE NATIONALISTS.

Messrs Lloyd George and Birrell (Secretary for Ireland), the Master of Elibank, and Messrs Redmond and Dillon have had a conference. The result is unknown, but Ministerialists are hopeful that a modus. vivondi will be arranged.