which I think is of real importance and urgency. But, before I embark on what I have to say on that specific question, there are one or two other points on the general question of this Measure which I would like to raise. I have much sympathy with some of the things said by the hon. and learned Member for the Combined English Universities (Mr. H. Strauss). I, also, am in favour of a Second Chamber. I am not at all sure that in a Second Chamber, properly constituted, the question of delay might not also be a very important one; but we cannot consider the question of delay in a properly constituted Second Chamber in the same way as we consider delay in a Chamber which is constituted on the hereditary principle. It is because of the hereditary principle that the Government have said that this House of Lords, which gives to the Opposition a whole five years of support, can, if it so wishes, deny to this Government, or any progressive government, an opportunity for any really valuable work in its last two years. 273 I am not in agreement with the hereditary principle. Like many other hon. Members who have spoken during the last two days, I am opposed to it because it is an anachronism in the modern State; but it is extraordinarily persistent. Over and over again in the course of this Debate, we have heard that the principle of a differently constituted Second Chamber