3 FEBRUARY 1912, Page 2

In regard to woman suffrage, continued Mr. Boner Law, the

Prime Minister had told them that it would be a national disaster and in the same breath declared his readiness to be the instrument for perpetrating that disaster. The agitation for IV el eh Disestablishment was the meanest ever seen, its whole motive power being derived from envy, hatred, and all un- charitableness. Turning to Home Rule, Mr. Boner Law noted the ominous reticence of its supporters, the divergence of their views on the control of the customs, and the futility of the arguments of Sir Edward Grey. Why plead congestion if you were going to leave the Irish at Westminster P The Unionist Party in Scotland and England supported Ulster, not because they were intolerant, but because Ulster's claim was just and because the loyal minority looked upon Home Rule as the greatest curse which their imaginations could conceive. Mr. Boner Law turned next to the Insurance Act, and observed that the Government were now engaged in a. campaign to explain the Act, not before, but after it had become law—a complete justification of Mr. Snowden's remark that the country bad no longer a system of repre- sentative government, but was living under the tyranny of Cabinet autocracy. We deal elsewhere with the concluding passage of the speech in which Mr. Boner Law spoke of Tariff Reform and the alternative which confronted Unionist Free Traders.