NEWS OF THE WEEK.
WITHOUT question the most important, though not the most sensational, event of the week was the debate in the House of Lords on Thursday on Lord Balfour's Reference to the People Bill. We have dealt at length with Lord Bal- four's speech elsewhere, and also with some of the chief details of the measure which he introduced and with the criticisms that are current in regard to the Referendum. We will only say here that Lord Bailout's speech was as lucid as it was moderate, and made absolutely clear that the advocates of the Poll of the People are not exploiting the popular veto as a piece of party tactics. Lord Selborne, who, in the absence of Lord Lansdowne, spoke on behalf of the Opposition, deliberately, and in carefully chosen words, declared that the reference to the people had for good or ill become a principal item in the policy of the Unionist Party. "They to ok de- liberately and finally as their choice the referendum to the electorate rather than the House of Commons and its temporary majority. It was their permanent contribution, and from it they should not recede."
