If this scheme is applied to the present House of
Lords, 88 Unionists, 48 Liberals, and 14 non-party Peers fulfil the conditions of distinguished public service. There are thus left 50 Peers for the other two categories. Of these, as Lord Midleton says, 10 would probably he claimed by the Prime Minister for members of his Government This would leave 40 Peers to be elected by a proportional vote from among the existing Peers. The Government would, Lord Midleton calculates, command 6 of these 40 vacancies. Of the 200 hereditary Peers, the Liberal strength would thus be 64, the Unionist 122, and non-party 14,—i.e., Peers like Lord Rose- bery, Lord Roberts, Lord Wolseley, Lord Kitchener, Lord Fisher, Lord Macnaghten, Lord Gorell, Lord. Lindley, &c. This gives a Unionist majority on the hereditary side of 58. Of the 200 Members of the Second Chamber to be electea from outside, Lord Midleton calculates that, assuming the Elections of 1906 and 1910 to be fair indications of the popular will, 132 would be Radicals and some 68 Unionists. Adding these figures to those of the hereditary Peers, the new House would, he calculates, contain 196 Radicals to 190 Unionists. If instead the system of nomination were adopted, 20 persons being selected annually by the Prime Minister of the day to serve for ten years, the new House would in 1911 contain in all 204 Radicals to 182 Unionists.
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