The Alaska citizen., 1911-01-30


 lament. This composite majority has teen found by the ministry to suffice for some but not for all their purposes. and while it cannot be gainsaid that their position in re- gard to the one issue presented by the parliament bill has been strengthened by the elections. it is none the less likely that the new parliament may have a Cheluered history. The Master of Elibank may be held to have organized victory, and his party are considerably in his debt; but the electoral success is not so complete as Liberals ex. pcCted or desired. and one prediC- ton on the Liberal side has been falsified. II was predicted that the election would be one of the hottest and bitterest of modern times, but it has be n nothing of the kind. De spite asseverationS to the contrary, not a little apathy has been exhibited by the electorate. It is quite sufl- cient proof of this statement to re fer to the fact that there were in Great Britain 110 unContCsted cleo -ions, whereas in January the num- , bsr was very small. But other proofs are not wanting of the cleo toral apathy. It is as if the CCun- try had said: Settle the dispute be- tween yourselves We have given the government a majority because it is the Liberals who complain of grievances. but it is a majority which they will have to use careful ly. For our part Te do not want Q he bothered any more" Whether the impending changes in the CCnSti- tuition will be regarded as a S tile. mCnt of the questions at issue, or whether they are destined to be gauge of future battle, depends now upon the stateSmansh. of the Lib
 eral leaders
 The feeling in the Liberal party runs high against any further con ference with their opponents, and he moderates, who base their hopes
 a settlement by consent on a re newal of this eXperim mt, will be disappointed, for the present at any rate. One of the ironies of he situation is this. The terms of fcred by the Liberal leaders in the conference may have represented the highest counsels of statesman ship on the Liberal side; the Union ist leaders may have been unable to accept them because they knew they could not carry their party with th m; and it is at any rate con ceivable that the Unionist party. as result of the present elections. might be ready to conCede the diff ference which then separated the two sides. Yet at the present mo mCut, the government having been confirmed in power, with a majority of their supporters in favor of eX- tremc measures, a formal cCmprOm- iSe would be secuted on the Liberal side. When the Parliament bill is again before the house of lords, how ever, and the opportunity of amend ing the bill presents itself, the Gues-
 ion of compromise will doubtless become once more a living question. The nearer that responsible minis ters come to the point at which they must either agree to settlement by consent, or ask the king for pow CT to create 300 peers. the more are they ely to shrink from extreme courses. The point may not be reached until May. and the coron- atiCn is 10 be held in June.
 The Course of Business.
 The cabinet it Is understood will not mcet till January, perhaps not until the middle of the month, when it will be necessary to con- slider the business for the ensuing session. According to present ar rangemonts parliament reassembles on January 31, and after the swear ing in of members and the election of speaker in that week it will be opened by the king on Monday, Feb ruary 6. The present intentions of the ministry are believed to be that the parliament bill should be intro duced and proce eded with in the house of commons after the debate on the address. so that it may be sent to the house of lords well be- fore Easter. The view entertained among Liberals is that, assuming that the parliament bill is to be passed first through the house of commons, the debates in that house should not be prolonged
 Unionists are equal in number to the Liberal party in the house of commons, and if the parliament bill is laid before them they may well, unless drastic closure were sorted to, exercise an important influence on the development of the situation. But it may be pointed out that if their energies are diverted by examinations as to the course pursued during the last few weeks. the path of their political opponents will be made smoother If recrim- nations among Unionists were to be the ordfr of the day something might douhtless be said as to the rejection of the Budget of last year, m act which would seem for the present to have riveted the Liberal allegiance of the North, and thus to have contributed to the result of the present election. Such exercises Cf the spirit, however, are not only vain, but tend to obscure the pres ent position, and something very interesting is happening at the mo- ment, which would seem to have escaped notice
 The Governments Reform Scheme.
 Until the cabinet have met nat urally the government can come to no fresh decision, but there has evi drntly been an interchange of views among ministers since the borough pollings and the first returns from he counties asured them of a ma iority. It may be noted, first, that it is a commonplace of political con- troversy that the provisions of the parliament bill, if passed in their present form, could subsequently be