The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1910-12-31

/ happen "hen fafllAnent meets again
after the holidays. There seems lit
/ tie doubt that the liberal government
will be allowed to carry out In full
their program which will bring abou,
than any man living now has seen.
/ That ireland will get home rule is
foregone conclusion. and with the
prospect that the king will if neces-
sary create sufficient number OF
! peers TO make the house OF lords lib
eral, that august body of men now sit
ting in the gilded chamber will un-
doubtedly lose no time in giving up
their vote rather than being swamped
with an influx of new members who
scorn their most sacred traditions
Nobody. probably not even Mr.. Bal
! four. will pity the unhappy lords, who
have nobody but themselves to blame
for their sudden downfall. 1t is their
| own high handed manner, their own
total disregard of the British constitu-
ton which has destroyed them. For
more than two centuries they had re-
speCted the resolution passed by the
house of commons in 1878. that the
house of lords had no right to meddle
! in finance. In 1866 William Pitt, tory
prime minister told them again that
! legislation and taxation We're not the
same thing. and that concurrence of
the peers and the crown to a tax was
only necessary to clothe it with the
! form of law. Later on, in 1S4. they
We're again plainly told SO by Lord
| Roseberry, and as late as in los the
present leader of the conservative par
| ty. Mr.. Balfour. said: 1T is the house
| of commons. not the house OF lords,
which settles the financial system"
| This was confirmed later in the same
year b Word Landsdowne. who never
theless a year later attacked Lloyd
Georges budget and moved the resolu-
| ton that rejected it
| When the lords rejected the budg-
ct they signed their own political
! death sentence, which is now to be
carried out. After barring every road
| to democratic progress the British
| house of lords, in its Old form is about
( " Dt buileu, anu IL VIII rest lOfGNef
afterward in suicides grave at
! which not single honest tear will
| be shed.
| The young republic of Portugal is
not only suffering from serious domes-
tic trouble, but is also in desperate
need of money which must be forth
coming before the end of the year
Practically every bank and finan-
cier in London has been approached,
but in every case a refusal has been
the result, and as the result in Paris
has been quite the same the Portu-
guese government is at its wits end
and is contemplating a sale of trea-
sures of the numerous palaces as
solution of its difficulties. Art dealers
in London and Paris are naturally
very much on the qui vive for there
are several Holbeins Of immense va
lue in the Necessidades palace, and
one very we'll known firm of Hebrew
dealers has made several tentative Of
fers to the government for their pur-
chase
Considerable surprise has been ex
pressed lately at the policy of the
board of admiralty in consigning bat
tleships to the scrap heap which had
obviously many years of useful work
| before them AS matter of fact this
policy has had to be adopted because
the fleet does not possess, at the pres
ent time, sufficient men to man these
vessels as we'll as the dreadnoughts
and super dreadnoughts that are so
rapidly coming into commission. The
authorities are at their wits ends to
fnd men in sufficient numbers to sat
isfy the ever growing demands of the
fleet.
Admiral Wilson and his colleagues
on the board of admiralty are unani-
nous in their opinion that from thir-
teen TO fourteen thousand additional
men are required next year, and an in
timation was conveyed to the treas
ury short time ago, that this extra
number would be asked for in the ma
val estimate next year. The treasury
however, Immediately placed it's veto
on this proposal. and intimated that
nothing like SO large an increase could
be sanctioned. Negotiations between
the two departments then took place
and it was agreed that six thousand
should be the outside limit to the
personnel OF the fleet asked for in the
estimate OF HIP.
The seriousness of this decision
and the handicap under which the
navy is placed, can we'll be realized
when it is stated that there is not an
admiral on the active list at the mo-
ment who does not regard ten thou
sand men as the lowest possible num-
Der that should be added next year.
II is agreed, moreover. throughout
the service, that the present system
OF nucleus crews is in many respects
a sham The fleets manner by these
would be practically useless in time
OF war. until such time as the re
serves could be called upon. Some OF
the crews OF our battleships and crui-
sers are insufficient to keep the ships
in fighting trim. and practically the
whole OF their time is taken up in rou-
tine duties. leaving but little space to
drill them in the work they would be
called upon TO understand in time of