In the House of Commons on Tuesday the Secretary for
Scotland moved the second reading of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Bill. We cannot follow Mr. Sinclair's speech in defence of the Bill, but nothing he said makes us depart from our opinion that there is no reason for introducing into Scotland a system which is thought undesirable in England, and that of all the dangerous principles which could possibly be employed that of a Land Court on the Irish model is one of the very worst for Scotland. Although the intention of the Government was avowedly to return the Bill to the House of Lords unaltered, and thus use it as the instrument of a struggle between the two Houses, Mr. Sinclair announced on Wednesday that amendments which did not affect the principle of the Bill would be considered by the Government in Committee. When it was argued that the " guillotine " would prevent proper discussion of them, Mr. Sinclair made the significant remark that there would be opportunities for considering amendments in the House of Lords. We can only take this as a token that the Govern- ment do not expect as much as they did from their campaign against the Lords. We have always predicted that the cam. paign would end in nothing, and we do so now more con- fidently than ever.
Previous page
