It will be a thousand pities if the talks on
the future of the House of Lords break down finally—and break on a question of no more than two or three months in the Lords' delaying power. The opposing schools of thought have never come so near agreement before, and it may be long before so good an opportunity of achiev- ing it occurs again. To draw a clear line between the hereditary peerage—whose continuance as such hurts no one—and a Legislative Second Chamber would be a great advance, and the question of the composition of the Chamber has apparently created little difficulty in the discussions now in progress. It is simply a question of how long the Lords could, if they desired (and it is worth remembering that only twice since 1911 have the provisions of the Parliament Act of that year had to be applied) hold up Bills passed by the House of Commons. An agreement that the delay should be twelve months from the second reading or nine months from the third reading, whichever were the longer, would give the Lords a better deal than they get under the new Parliament Bill. If the Government will go that far the chance of an agreed settlement on such a basis is well worth seizing. * * * *
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