The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-16

| yet. Would he put In an appearance
/ twice week? one member asked. Once
| a week, suggested another, amid de-
! risive cheers. Lloyd George only
J shook his head at these attempts to pin
/ him down to any observance at all of
I the traditional practice.
| The change of custom thus established
\ in an ordinary peace-time parliament is
regarded by many as a serious consti-
tutional development 1t is the essence
or British parliamentary government
| that the responsible ministers of the
crown should sit in Parliament and an
swer questions relating to their depart
ments, and that the prime minister
should be there to reply on all matters
affecting the policy of the government
as whole. British parliamentarians re-
gard this practice as one of the demo-
cratic superiorities of the British con-
stitution, compared with that of the
United States. They now complain that
Lloyd George is assuming the role of a
President whose aloofness may at any
time become as detrimental to demo-
cratic government as that with which
President Wilson's opponents have
charged him They also fear that if the
presidential character of the premier
ship is allowed to become a permanent
feature of the British constitution, the
practice of non-attendance in Parliament
Will De EXTENDED 10 OlleF MINISTER'S am
the whole principle of cabinet govern
ment be abandoned. Other ministers
might rightly claim that they were just
as busy as the prime minister and that
the work of their department was preju-
diced by their having to spend two or
three hours a day in the House of Com
mons or the House of Lords. There is
some warrant for this apprehension in
the fact of the increasing number of
statements made by under secretaries,
beginning: 81 have been asked to reply
to this question
But another couse for resentment
against Lloyd Georges absence from
the House is that it is believed to be
the result of a deal" between him
scelf and the tories. Feeling against
this aspect of the matter is not so
strong in the opposition. who want
Lloyd George in his place. because
there he can be more effectively at
tackled. but among the coalition liber-
ais who help to swell hiss great ma
jority and upon Whose votes the coali-
ton is coming more and more to de-
pend. Bonar Law is leader of the tories
and in handing over the leadership of
the House to him. Lloyd George places
these liberal supporters of himself in
an uncom Portable position. For one
thing it subjects them to the jeers of
the Independent liberals. 1t also weak
ems their influence in the coalition by
giving the tory element a leader whom
they are more likely to follow unani
mouely than they would follow Lloyd
George. in any division in which the
old party lines might threaten to APP
pear in the coalition. On Lloyd
Georges rare appearances in the House
it is from the liberals Of the coalition
that cheers greet hi mmore than from
those to whom he has continued the
favor OF allowing them to be led by
their own leader. The liberals would
like to see him in his place regularly
Al justification of their alliance with
the tories, but the tories-or super
tories of the regular Bottomley type
will have the last word on this or any
other matter affecting the life of the
coalition