16 NOVEMBER 1912, Page 17

NEWS OF THE WEEK

• TRIMEASURABLY the most important event of the week

has been the defeat of the Government, followed by the refusal of the Opposition, persisted in to the point of not permitting Ministerial speakers a hearing, to allow Mr. Asquith to carry his motion to rescind a decision of the House of Commons by a simple motion and without observing the invariable forms of procedure. These forms are specially designed to prevent the decisions of the House from veering about with every momentary gust of opinion, and to give the opinion of minorities some weight and influence in the Commons ; they are forms which have been accepted and acted upon at Westminster for some three hundred years.