New-York tribune., 1906-07-11
THE LORDS AND THE SCHOOLS.

Under the pressure of the closure, vigorously
applied, Mr.. Birrell's Education bill is being
expedited on it's passage through the House Of
Commons, and the time is now within a meas
urable distance when it will be presented to
the House of Lords for action by that body.
What action will be taken is a matter of inter
esting speculation. Some Of the more Radical
members OF the House of Commons appear to be
already assuming that the Lords will reject the
bill, and in advance raising the cry that
the hereditary chamber must not be permitted
TO stand in the way Of the will of the people as
expressed through the House OF Commons, and
that therefore rejection Of the bill by the Lords
should be the signal for a campaign for the
abolition of that chamber This view is based
upon the knowledge that the House of Lords
is as strongly Conservative as the House Of
Commons is Radical, but 1t is by no means GER
tain that that fact is sufficient to justify such
a view.
Three courses will be open to the Peers The
first is to pass the BILL just as it comes from
the Commons. That they will do SO seems most
improbable. The second course is to reject it
Beyond doubt, they have a right to do that.
Many times before this the House of Lords has
rejected and defeated a bill passed by the Com
mons. Such was the case with the Irish Home
Rule bill, although the Commons had passed
that bill under a direct and specific popular
ulduuaIe, Sucn as Lue present House certainty
does not enjoy for the Education bill. Should
the Peers thus dispose Of the Education bill
doubtless a great clamOr would arise, but it
does not seem that there would be adequate
cause for it. That the Peers have the right to
veto a bill of the Commons at least once is a
generally conceded principle Of the British con-
stitutiOn. But it is much to be doubted whether
they will do so in this case
The third course, which seems by far the most
probable, is that of amendment. In case the
Peers adopt that course the amended bill will go
back to the Commons for its action upon the
amendments. If it accepts them the bill will
speedily be enacted. If it does not accept them
the next step will be the appointment of a con-
ference committee to meet like committee Of
the Peers and to seek ground Of agreement
between the two houses. That process is faml-
lar to us at Washington. Ii in the end the
conference committee fails to arrive at a sat
isfactOry compromise if the Peers persist in
their amendments and the Commons persist in
their refusal to accept them, then the bill will
be killed. OF course, the constitutional right
of the Peers thus to amend a bill is undoubted,
and in the present case they will have strong
ground for making some pretty sweeping amend
ments, seeing that certain provisions of the bill
were strongly opposed and voted against by
many of the government party, including some
Cabinet ministers. If this should happen. and
if the bill should fail of passage through dis
agreement of the two houses, the government
might appeal to the country, though It is scarcely
to be expected that it would do so. The more
probable course would be to bring the bill for
ward again at the next session.