them with an heir. I would advise the Government that that is never a safe bet with a man; they would be on much safer ground with a good many women. I feel that this new position offers the Government a fine opportunity to consider the great talent that exists among women today and the devoted services which large numbers of women have given to the country, and, for that reason alone, I hope the Government will consider this real reform of the House of Lords. I need hardly mention particular names, but many come immediately to mind: Violet Markham, the Marchioness of Reading, Lady Violet Bonham-Carter and Margaret Bondfield -- women who have sat here and whom we have seen pass on, women like Susan Lawrence and Eleanor Rathbone, who rendered magnificent services and who might have enriched the kind of Chamber outlined by the hon. and learned Member for the Combined English Universities. Their mature judgment, their calm, reflective wisdom, would be of enormous use to us. It has been said that we ought not to isolate this question from the whole question of the hereditary principle, about which there is now common agreement. But already we have seen this matter discussed for 40 years. It may be a lifetime before this vested interest finally goes. I hope therefore the Government will consider this reform; small to them, but a vital principle to the women concerned and through them to all women The hon. Lady the Member for