The time of the House of Commons during the last
week has been chiefly devoted to passing the new Finance Bill. On Monday the Government carried their very severe Closure Resolutions in spite of the protest of the Opposition, and by Wednesday the Bill had passed through all its stages. The most interesting events, however, were the replies of the Prime Minister to two questions on Tuesday afternoon. The first of these related to woman suffrage, with regard to which Mr. Asquith declared that "the Government will, if they are still in power, give facilities in the next Parliament for effectively proceeding with a Bill if so framed as to permit of free amendment." This apparently leaves the door open to a don different ways of treating the problem, but in all
probability some arrangement has been made behind the . scenes which will not be disclosed tall the elections are over. Thus the power of the electors to decide the problem is in effect taken away from them.
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