It may at first sight seem as if the Government
would not agree to any sort of concession, but would insist upon the Veto Bill without the alteration of a line, and would thus summarily reject all proposals for reforming the House of Lords. Fortunately, however, there are signs that such an attitude has not been decided on by the Government. A significant indication of their willingness to make concessions is to be found in an answer made to a heckler by Mr. Lloyd George on Friday, December 9th,—an answer which, curiously enough, has hitherto passed with very little notice. The question was: " Why don't you accept the proposals of the Lords to reconstruct their House P" The answer was as follows :—
" Mr. LLOYD Groaoz.—Before I accept them I should like to know what they are. Has any one any notion what they are ? Have you seen any one who has any notion ? Have you seen anybody who has met anybody who has heard of anybody? Well, I have not. We will wait until we hear. And then they may come forward with better proposals than ours. If so, there is no reason why we should not accept them. But at present these noblemen have not made up their minds. They will give just as little as they dare, and we are going to take just as much as our majority will allow us in that respect."
