Mr. Asquith, addressing his constituents at Auchtermuchty on Monday night,
dealt with the decay of the Parliamentary. system under Mr. Balfour. By the joint operation of the guillotine and the block the Executive had become every year more and more emancipated from party control. As such a state of affairs was in the long run bad for the Executive, derogatory to Parliament, and injurious to the Empire, he believed that one of the primary duties of a Liberal Govern- ment would be to restore efficiency and dignity to our Legislature at Westminster. The remedies he suggested- were fourfold,—viz., (1) the summoning of Parliament in November to get through the preliminary business of the Address, &c., before Christmas ; (2) the abolition of the new hours of sitting, and the restoration of the old ; (3) the abolition of blocking Motions ; and (4) the establishment of one or two .large permanent Committees before whom the whole of the Estimates for the year should go. These changes, however, would not be effective unless supplemented by a policy of delegating purely local affairs to local authorities, while jealously safeguarding, in all respects, the ultimate and paramount control of the Imperial Parliament over all causes, persons, and affairs. This could not be carried out in a moment, but it was the ideal which ought constantly to be kept in view, as on its fulfilment amended the only chance we had of effective legislation in the future.
Previous page
