Mr. Asquith, presiding at the Lowestoft Liberal Club on Thursday
last, made an attempt to sketch the policy of the Liberal party. Popular control of a real kind must be carried out from the top to the bottom of our educational system. The conscience clause was a flimsy delusion in Church schools. Next, land tenure must be reformed, especially in towns. Under our system of building leases the whole cost of public improvement and sanitation was thrown upon the occupiers, "whereas the persons who received the reversionary bonus at the expiration of these leases in the advanced value of their property contributed not a farthing." Another item was a complete system of compensation to workmen. Then came the problem of destitute old age, which must be attacked and solved. Aliens, said Mr. Asquith very sensibly, must not be excluded, and be declared that no good could come of an Anarchist Congress. Lastly, Perlis,-
ment must be reformed. If he obtained "One man, one vote" —but not, apparently, universal suffrage—and paiment of registration expenses by a public authority, the Tories, said Mr. Asquith with some scorn, might do what they liked about redistribution,—a delightfully naive, but no doubt true, ad. mission that the abolition of rotten boroughs has ceased to be a Liberal aspiration. As to the House of Lords, Mr. Asquith would, apparently, take away its powers, but he had not the courage to propose abolition. These items are interesting, but a far more interesting thing about the speech was the complete and absolute disappearance of Ireland. There was not a word about it in the speech. Are the Liberals in future going to swear they never heard of such a place, just as the wiser Southerners after the war were willing to sign affidavits that they had never seen such a thing as a slave ?
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