The House of Lords last week invited the Committee In
Privileges to reconsider its decision in favour of Lady Rhondda, who claimed a writ of summons. The Lord Chancellor main- tained that the true effect of the Sex Disqualification Removal Act had not been sufficiently examined by the Committee. He reminded the peers that, when the Bill came before them, they had rejected an amendment in favour of admitting peeresses. " The obvious intention of both Houses of. Parliament was," he said, " to exclude peeresses." Lord Desborough pointed out that in the Franchise Act of 1918 peeresses in their own right were specially recognized as having the right to vote at Parliament tart' elections—evidently on the assumption that they could not sit in the House of Lords. The admission of peeresses to the Upper House is thus -deferred. We sincerely trust, however, that Lady Rhondda will make good. her claim, which, in our opinion, is sound both legally and politically. If peeresses can sit in the Commons House of Parliament, why not in the Lords ?
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