In the House of Commons on Monday, after a long
discus- sion of the Government's guillotine motion for the remaining stages of the Parliament Bill, its report stage was entered upon. The principal amendment considered was that of Mr. Cave for sending to a Referendum certain classes of Bills. The debate which followed included a most convincing speech by Mr. Balfour, who dealt conclusively with many of the stock objections to a Poll of the People which were raised by earlier speakers. He went on to declare that "the more this matter was thought out, the better it would be seen that in the Referendum lay our one hope of getting a Constitutional security such as every other country besides ourselves enjoyed." At present, elections were fought largely on personal grounds, and many people voted for their party merely because their fathers had done so before them. But if a Bill were referred to the people on its merits it would in itself be a great education for a political people. Mr. Balfour concluded by prophesying that "before long those whom he was now addressing would see this great democratic engine brought into practice."
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