NEWS OF THE WEEK.
manner in which the Government have been reluctantly forced to take the inevitable step of appointing a Royal Commission, armed by special statute with the fullest possible powers, to investigate the grave scandals disclosed in the Report of the Butler Committee, and to give facilities for a debate in the House of Commons on the attitude of the Government in regard to the whole question. As we have pointed out elsewhere, it might have been supposed that the Government would have anticipated any demand from the Opposition for full investigation by declaring the moment Parliament met that the fullest machinery for inquiry would at once be set in motion, and by insisting that they were ready and eager to meet in Parliament any criticism impugning their action. Yet, astounding as it sounds, Mr. Balfour had positively to be goaded by the Opposition—no other expression will serve—into granting an adequate inquiry, and admitting the right of the Opposition to a Parliamentary discussion on the conduct of the Administration.
Previous page
