On Wednesday Mr. Edgar Jones moved for the appointment of
a Select Committee to consider proposals for the redistri- bution of seats and report thereon. Major Morrison-Bell proposed as an amendment that the word " immediate " should be inserted before "redistribution of seats." By this he meant that there should be a redistribution of seats on lines of equality before the Homo Rule and Welsh Church Bills were placed on the statute book. Wales and Scotland had each an over-representation of ten per cent.; England was correspondingly under-represented; while Ireland had an over- representation of forty-two per cent. Mr. Samuel, for the Government, admitted the need for electoral reform, but would only consent to accept the word "immediate " in what he called its common-sense meaning. They considered that this task should be undertaken without delay and should not be left to another Parliament, but should if possible be carried through in time for a General Election to take place under a redistribution of seats if this Parliament ran its normal course. He added that if the Opposition would be authorita- tively represented on the Committee, the Government would he represented by one of its members. Mr. Walter Long assented to the resolution, but insisted that a Parliamentary Committee starting with a Government majority was the worst possible tribunal for the purpose. The motion as amended was agreed to.
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