7 JANUARY 1922, Page 10

Sir George Younger, who is no mean combatant, on the

other hand declares that Parliament has no right to dissolve until it has dealt with the reform of the House of Lords. Without resisting Sir George Younger's general conclusion, we must say that the particular argument about the House of Lords leaves us cold. The House of Lords does very well as it' is. It is a most valuable assembly for casting light into dark places and securing reconsideration of doubtful measures. Without having a veto of its own, or even asserting a claim to one, it reminds the Commons that the people must have the final decision. And of course the full debates in the House of Lords are notoriously on a very high level. The introduction of the Referendum, as we have explained elsewhere, would secure in a different way all that could be secured by the proposed reform of the House of Lords. Of course, we should like to cut out the mere " duds " from the House of Lords, but that could easily be done by imposing some qualification of public service before a peer is allowed to sit.