IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3185, 3 April 1911, Page 5

IMPERIAL POLITICS.

REFORM OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. LORD ROSEBERY’S OPINIONS. I UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.} LONDON. March 31. In the House of Lords, Lord Rosebery, discussing Lord Lansdowne’s address to the King, argued that the Government ought to introduce, being alone able to carry, a Bill reforming the House of Lords. The Government was not entitled to infer from the general election that the country approved of obliteration of the Second Chamber without substituting another, and the announcement of its intentions could not long be delayed. Lord Rosebery is opposed to constitutional reform emanating from a private source. He. considers that reform of the House of Lords need not necessarily be revolutionary, but beneficent. The Government’s action was revolutionary in sweeping away a house that was coequal with the House of Commons, and not substituting the slightest check on the control of the House of Commons. Lord Rosebery further said that the overseas delegates from the Commonwealth would have the spectacle of the Government which endowed them with a bi-cameral system, seeking to destroy their own work. The settlement of the question should _be by the co-opera-tion of great parties, not by a onesided revolution. THE SHOPS BILL. In the House of Commons, the Shops Bill was read a second time. A BIG SURPLUS. The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s surplus is £5,606,766. PAYMENT OF MEMBERS. The Budget provides for payment of members at the rate of £4OO per annum. THE IMPERIAL BUDGET. REVENUE OVER TWO HUNDRED MILLION STERLING. (Received April 2, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 1. The Budget shows the year’s revenue to be £203,850.588, whereof Customs contributed £33.104.000 excise £4O, 020.000, stands £9,784.000, and property and income tax £61,946,000. THE KING’S PROBABLE ACTION. A LABOR LEADER’S OPINION. An independent cable service message from London, dated March 21st, states that Mr. Ramsay M'Donald. M.P., the leader of the Labor Party, refuses to entertain any idea that King George will refuse to create new peers if the Lords reject the Veto Bill. “If the King does refuse,” lie says, “the issue of an inevitable election will be, “Does the King reign or does he rule?’ “There would be the biggest disturbance,” adds Mr. McDonald, “since the days of Charles I.” MR. LLOYD CEORCE. RUMORS OF RESIGNATION. A London cablegram of March 23rd says: There are persistent ruinous that Mr. Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, intends to resign owing to ill-health.