Lord Selborne has acceded " cheerfully " to Lord Cairns's
proposal to refer the Judicature Bill to a Select Committee of the House of Lords, allowing himself to be reassured as to the effect of that ominous proceeding by Lord Cairns's expres- sion of a, belief that the Select Committee- could do its business in a week. But it is obvious, as the Times says, that if a Select Committee were desirable at all, it- ought to have been appointed on the second reading of the Bill, and not on the very eve of the Easter recess. Lord Cairns wants to alter the Bill in two easential respects, and on one of these he differs gravely from Lord Seibert*, while the other involves very intricate detail. It will evidently be June at earliest before the Bill can go down to the Lower House, and then it- will find almost every day preoccupied, and even when it comes- on, a host of severe legal critics, with strong personal interests. affected by the Bill. We can't say the prospect is a cheerful one. Lord Selborne may be strong, but he must learn not to be so very pliant to his noble and learned friends, if he is to- achieve much law reform. Suavity should have its limits, especially in business.
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