The Franchise Bill was read a third time in the
House of Commons on Friday week. Representatives of the British parties concurred in describing the Bill as a fair compromise, and in complimenting the Speaker, to whose tact in presiding over the preliminary Confer- ence the success of the Bill has been largely due. The only dissen- tient note was heard, as usual, from Ireland. The Government, yielding once more to Mr. Redmond, abandoned the Irish redis- tribution proposals, and agreed to set up a Conference, composed of two Irish Nationalists and two Irish Unionists with the Speaker as Chairman, to oonsider the question anew. The Speaker will have a casting vote, so that the Government and the House of Commons have shifted their responsibility ois to his shoulders. The decisions of the Conference will bo embodied in a now Bill, which is to pass unopposed and receive the Royal Assent at the same time as the Franchise Bill. We have every confidence in the Speaker, but these controversial questions ought to be settled by the vote of the House of Commons.
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