A Handbook to Political Questions of the Day. By Sydney
Buxton, M.P. Fifth Edition. (John Murray.)—Mr. Buxton's industry has produced a fifth edition of this useful work within less than a year after the fourth edition ; but the closing of the controversy as to Household Suffrage and Redistribution in the Three Kingdoms has necessitated the present edition, and at the same time rendered it more handy by reducing its bulk. The most important new matter is the section on Reform of the Procedure of the House of Commons, the arguments against which make but a poor show. The only true argument is "that legislation of a totally different character to that assented to by the people at the General Election is now often pressed forward without their having an opportunity of expressing an opinion on it, and unless it is delayed and obstructed, that opportunity will never arise ;" and the answer, of course, is to be found in shorter Parliaments rather than in Reform of Procedure. Mr. Buxton hardly gives its due weight in the arguments on this question to the devolu- tion of Private-Bill Legislation ; while the statement of the specific remedies proposed is so vague that the arguments both for and against a Reform of Procedure are too much in the air to be of much use. In the next edition, we should suggest that the questions of the Death-Duties, and Graduated Succession and Income-Taxes should be added.
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