Mr. Chamberlain was, however, not content with a mere non
possums. The Government propose, pending the formation of an Imperial Court of Appeal which shall em- brace the jurisdiction of both the House of Lords and the Judicial Committee, to appoint for a term of seven years four new Lords of Appeal in Ordinary—i.e., life-Peers with salaries of £6,000 a year—one from Canada, one from Australasia, one from South Africa, and one from India., who shall be mem- bers of the Court which will try Colonial appeals. The
Court thus constituted will, of course, be in fact the House of Lords sitting under another name. But as there is a great deal in a name we hope that the Bill making the new life. peerages will contain a clause declaring that until farther legislation the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee shall in all cases be exercised by the Court known as the House of Lords, and adding that in order to prevent delays the mem- bers of the Court known as the House of Lords may sit in two divisions, one to hear English, Scotch, and Irish appeals, and one to exercise the jurisdiction of the Judicial Com- mittee. Such a clause would not require any elaborate dis- cussion, and would get rid of the term "Judicial Committee" and the squalid room in Whitehall,—the two chief sources of discontent.
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