In the course of the debate Lord Hugh Cecil made
a point in regard to the Referendum which we have often made in these columns but which cannot be too often reiterated. It is well summed up in the Times leader on the subject. The Poll of the People "would do in a quiet and simple manner what the Government actually proposed to do by two years of heated discussion throughout the country." Even if the Veto Bill passes, the Unionist Party, if they succeed, as we believe they ultimately will, in establishing the Referendum, will have automatically repealed that dangerous and unjust enactment. The passage of a Bill by the House of Commons alone, after two years' delay in the case of a deadlock, could never occur, because the disputed Bill would long ago have been referred to the masters of both Houses—i.e., to the electors. The Referendum takes all sting out of the Veto Bill and its bound and gagged Second Chamber. After the closure had been carried by a Majority of 123, the Bill was finally read a second time by a' majority of 125 (368-243).
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