On Thursday Lord Lansdowne, as a preliminary to the introduction
of his Bill for the reform of the House of Lords, moved an Address asking the consent of the Crown to the introduction of a Bill which would limit the Prerogative in the matter of the creation of peers and of the issue of writs to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of attend and sit and vote in the Upper House. He went on to give briefly and in outline an account of the chief features of his scheme. The numbers of the House must be reduced, whence it followed that a number of peers who now received a writ would not be entitled to do so. Next the new House would contain (1) An element of peers possessing certain qualifications and chosen by the existing peers ; (2) Nominated members; and (3) Mem- bers from outside brought in by machinery which would be in direct relation to popular opinion. The result, Lord Lans- downe went on to declare, would be the creation of an efficient Chamber in which parties would be far more nearly balanced than at present. Lord Lansdowne concluded by quoting precedents to show the necessity of obtaining the assent of the Crown before the introduction of the Bill. This was specially essential in the case of a Bill brought forward by the Opposition.
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