The discussion in Committee of amendments to the second clause
of the Parliament Bill was concluded on Monday by the help of the "kangaroo" closure. Early in the debate Mr. Asquith accepted an amendment of Mr. Bridgeman's. The Bill in its original form provided that two years must elapse between the introduction of a Bill and its passing the House of Commons for a third time ; but the amendment declares that the two years are to date from the second reading of a Bill. Among the amendments that were defeated was one by Mr. Malcolm proposing that the sessions referred to in the Parliament Bill should consist of not less than one hundred and twenty days. Another, moved by Mr. Peel, suggested that the Bill should be applicable to only one Bill in each session. Perhaps the most interesting debate was that upon Mr. Hope's proposal that it should be lawful for the Crown, by an Order in Council, to suspend the operation of a Bill passed without the Lords' consent for not more than four months. Mr. Balfour pointed out, however, that the Crown could not be allowed to act even for four months on the advice of any Ministers who could not command a majority in the House of Commons. Mr. Asquith described the amendment as an attempt to revive the veto of the Crown in order to prevent the suspension of the Veto of the Lords.
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