2 FEBRUARY 1918, Page 3

The House of Commons on Wednesday, after an animated debate,

rejected the proposals of the House of Lords for a full scheme of Proportional Representation by 223 votes to 113. The Govern- ment left the question to the House. Mr. Balfour and Lord Robert Cecil spoke strongly for " RR," while Sir George Cave and Mr. Walter Long opposed it. Mr. Asquith said that as a practical poli- tician he looked with horror at the difficulties which " P.R." on a large scale would cause at election time, but he thought that it might be tried on a modest scale as an experiment We hope that the House of Commons will now compromise with the House of Loida by accepting the partial scheme of " P.R." recommended by the Speaker's Conference for the large boroughs. This scheme would be easy to work, and would at any rate mitigate the un- fairness of our existing electoral system to all parties alike.