THE PROBLEM OF THE SECOND CHAMBER.

MEMBERSHIP.

(2) How is the Second House to be constituted ; i.e., who are to be its Members ?

WE suggest that in the reconstructed House of Lords there should be no " fancy " qualifications of any kind, but that instead the existing and historical structure of the House of Lords should remain—a body of Peers, Temporal and Spiritual, a body essentially re-formed by. the adoption of the following plan. No hereditary Peer shall have issued to him the Writ to attend the House of Lords unless he is able to prove two things : (1) that he is a person entitled at Common Law to receive a Writ of Summons to the House of Lords ; (2) that he has held Public Office or performed Public Service of value and importance to the nation. The hereditary right is not to operate in the case of an hereditary Peer unless he can prove his fitness for legislative work by a record of past Public Service. The Act altering the constitution of the Lords would thus be a very simple one. At present a man who succeeds to a peerage has to offer proof to the Lord Chancellor (1) that he is the eldest son of his father, (2) that he was born in wedlock, and (3) that he is over twenty-one. He has, that is, to produce his baptismal certificate and his mother's marriage certificate. Under the proposed new scheme, he would have to produce in addition a certificate signed by some responsible person, say a Judge of the High Court or a Privy Councillor, to prove that he (the hereditary Peer asking for the Writ of Summons) had satisfied the Schedule of the House of Lords Reform Act, and had held one of the poets named, or was qualified for the issue of the Writ in some other of the ways laid down in the Schedule. A very rough sketch of such a Schedule may be given :- The following are the persons deemed to be qualified for the receipt of a Writ of Summons within the meaning of this Act

(1) Any hereditary Peet who has been elected to sit in the House of Commons or hats been elected to sit in Parliament as a representative Peer.•

(2) Any person created a Peer, or any eldest eon of an hereditary Peer called to the House of Lords in his father's litetime.t

(3) Any hereditary Peer who before accession to his title or after had been sworn to the Privy Council.

(4) Any hereditary Peer who had held office in any Administration, provided that such office had been held by him for more than oneyear.

(5) Any hereditary Peer occupying the office of Lord-Lieutenant of a County or who had at any time. been Chairman of Quarter

• In order to prevent the diMeulties which arise is regard to alterations of the Acts of Union, election as • representative Peer of Scotland or Ireland should be deemed a qualification. f legally it would be unnecessary to insert this provision in an Act of Parliament, as a parson who receives a patent of Peerage Is presumed to have performed Publie Service and/fora net sir in Me Hews of Larded, lutmlilary right Similar considerations annlY to ne.eldeet son called to the Ileusertg,ords inishrfatherSlifetime. heteothan by the Crown. i.e.. by the Executive Government. would be the qualification. Sessions; Chairman of a County Council, Lord Mayor or Lord Provost or Mayor or Provost of any town of more.thaa. 100,000 inhabitants.

(8) Any hereditary Peer who had been Governer-General or. Governor of any of the lalligovenaing Dominions, Vieeroy of India, Governor or High Commissioner of any Dependency, Governor of Madras or Bombay, Lieutenant-Governor of any Indian Province or Member of'Council in India.

(7) Anyhereditary Peer who had been an Ambassador or Minister Plenipotentiary, or who had been a Member of the Diplomatic Service for more than fifteen years.

(8) Any person entitled to sit by Common Law or Statute as .a. Spiritual Peer, This clause to include Spiritual Life Peers representing

(a) The Established Church of Scotland and the United Free Church.

(b) The chief Protestant Nonconformist liodiee..

(c) The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and in England.

(In the case of the Nonconformist bodies, though the nomina. tions would, as in the case of the Bishops, be made by the Crown, they should be made after consultation with, and--on' the advice- of, representatives of the various Free. Churches whose numbers gave them a claim to representation.) (9) Any hereditary Peer who had attained to the rank of Major. General in the Army, Rear-Admiral in the Navy, or who had served in the Army, Navy, or Civil Service for a period of fifteen years or more.

(10) Any hereditary Peer who is a Knight of the Garter, Thistle/ or. St. Patrick, or who is a Grand Cross of any other British Order of Chivalry.

(11) Any person created a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary under the Statute.

It is not suggested that this Schedule is exhaustive. No doubt-useful additions could be made to it. It shows, however, how the double qualification of heredity and Public Service can be secured.