The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1908. THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 10 December 1908, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1908. THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Thk lefoim of the House, of Lords is v, subject ivhich has long agitated the public mind. Periodically, suggestions bavo Jjeen jnade by prominent men or commissions set up to consider tho mattor. However, little, if any, good has "«omo from these suggestions, which have invariably dropped into obscurity. It is to be hoped that the same iato do:s not await the latest proposal —that made by Lord Rosebory's Commission. As tho Christchurch "Press" points out, there is" much in common between the provisions of the Bill introduced last year by Lord Newton for tho reform of tho Houso of Lords, and the proposals of Lord llosebery's Committee, the chief object aimed at in both cases'being the reduction of tho preponderating hereditary element in tho Lords. The recommendations ol tho Committee are all in favour of abolishing the principle that a man is' entitled to sit in tho House of Lords merely because his father sat there. •It1 there could bo any guarantee that this* hereditary right carried with it the legislative ability that alone would justify it,, the objections to the present ■constitution of the Upper Chamber would bo a very small and quite negligiblo .matter. But no. such guarantee in possible, and though under the circumstances the House of Lords lias not made so many mistakes as might have been expected, the fact must be attributed rather to the manner in which many peers "consistently abstain from -attending its debates than to the manner in which they have discharged their legislative dxities. The element in the

Houso that is tho object of the Radicals' chief scorn—the young men who marry chorus girls and otherwise make themselves notorious—is in reality hardly ever seen in the House, but the fact that they have the right to sit there and vote oil matters of which they probably know and care nothing is ono of tho chief eeurcea of the irritation against the Upper Houss which from time to time, especially when a Liberal Government is in power, disturbs English politics. Tho appointment of the Committee may be taken «ii an indication that the House of Lords itself realised the necessity for adapting itself to changed conditions, and the selection of Lord Rosebery, a thorough-going reformer, as chairman, gave promise that an efficient scheme of reform would bo propounded. If the Committee's proposals are adopted by the House of Lords, the hereditary principlo will not be absolutely destroyed, but it will only be applied in the cases of such peers as have won \ their spurs in the elected chamber, or havo proved their capacity by holding high office in Great Britain or the Empire, or have been elected by their fellow peers. In addition to those there would hz a limited number of life peers. A House of Lords constituted on this principle would comprise many of the ablest men in the country, and would command the public confidence in far greater measure than is now the case.