GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



393 



which awaited the ratification of the Senate. 

 The dispatch of a commissioner into disordered 

 Swaziland to learn the views of the white settlers 

 on the better government of the territory was 

 announced, and favorable consideration was 



nimised for any well-considered scheme for the 

 eration of the Australian colonies that, by 

 bringing them into closer union, would increase 

 their welfare and strength. The legislative in- 

 tentions of the Government were known before 

 the meeting of Parliament. Two important 

 Irish measures were proposed, with small chance 

 of both being carried in one session. Mr. Balfour's 

 plan for extending and placing on a permanent 

 footing the system of land purchase by state aid 

 was defined as a proposal for increasing, under 

 due precaution, the number of occupying own- 

 ers. The other bill promised was to extend to 

 Ireland the principles of local self-government 

 which have been adopted in England and Scot- 

 land, so far as they are applicable to that coun- 

 try. Legislative proposals were to be submitted 

 also for improving the material well-being of the 

 population in the poorer districts. Credit was 

 taken for the continued improvement in the 

 state of Ireland and the further diminution in 

 the amount of agrarian crime, which had made 

 it possible to restrict very largely the area 

 wherein it is necessary to deal with certain of- 

 fenses by summary process. A bill for im- 

 proving the procedure by which tithe is levied 

 and for facilitating its redemption was expected 

 to deal with the tithe question on the basis of 

 the amended proposals of the ministry, to which 

 Sir William Harcourt had given his approval in 

 the preceding year. Besides the tithe bill, a 

 bill for facilitating and cheapening the transfer 

 of land in England, one for diminishing the diffi- 

 culty and cost of passing private bills for Scot- 

 land, the bill for ascertaining the liability of 

 employers in case of accidents, and a measure 

 for improving the procedure in winding up in- 

 solvent companies under the limited liability 

 act, were to be resuscitated from among the 

 slaughtered bills of the previous session. In re- 

 gard to the best means for improving the eco- 

 nomic conditions of inhabitants of the western 

 Highlands and islands of Scotland, the report of 

 the royal commission was awaited. The rest of 

 the ministerial programme was summed up in 

 bills for the consolidation and amendment of the 

 laws relating to the public health of the metrop- 

 olis and to the dwellings of the working classes, 

 a bill for the better regulation of savings banks 

 and friendly societies, and better provisions for 

 the distribution and the health and comfort of 

 the troops by improving the accommodations in 

 camps and barracks. 



Irish obstruction, to which the failure of past 

 sessions has been attributed, played only a small- 

 er part in the delays and disappointments of the 

 session of 1890, and yet it was the most futile 

 and barren of results of any in recent times. 

 The collapse was so complete "that the question 

 of a radical change in legislative arrangements 

 has become a prominent subject of public dis- 

 cussion. In March, Sir George Trevelyan pro- 

 posed that Parliament should rise in July to 

 meet again shortly before or after Christinas, 

 and so impatient have members become at the 

 protraction of the sessions till late in the autumn, 



that the vote on the motion, although it was op- 

 posed by the Government, was very close. The 

 ministers became converts to the idea when 

 business had made little progress in July and 

 the restiveness of members on both sides was ap- 

 parent. One of the excuses given for dropping 

 all the important legislative measures of the 

 year after they had reached the committee stage 

 was that Parliament would assemble again in 

 November. A few not unimportant minor 

 measures were got through ; but all those that 

 were made prominent in the Queen's speech and 

 those that formed the chief subjects of political 

 discussion during the session came to nothing. 

 The time of Parliament was spent largely on 

 bills that had no place in the address, most of 

 all on the abortive local taxation bill. Other 

 legislative projects that were introduced and 

 discussed with varying success were the allot- 

 ments and police bills, the Western Australia 

 Constitution that had failed to pass in the previ- 

 ous session, the Indian Councils bill, the Scotch 

 corrupt practices bill, the electoral disabilities 

 bill, and the public trustee bill. 



Before the debate on the address, Sir William 

 Harcourt brought up the forged Parnell letter 

 published in the " Times " and proved before 

 the Commission on Parnellism and Crime to be 

 a forgery as a question of privilege, and asked 

 for its condemnation as a false and scandalous 

 libel, and after a lively discussion the House di- 

 vided on party lines, and by a majority of 200 

 against 212 declined to treat the matter as a 

 breach of privilege since the parties aggrieved 

 had so long neglected to claim redress. In the 

 debate on the address and throughout the ses- 

 sion the Liberals and the Irish members who 

 followed Mr. Gladstone's guidance abstained 

 from raising embarrassing questions on foreign 

 and colonial policy, although the more inde- 

 pendent adherents of both sections found much 

 to criticise. Mr. Parnell's amendment denounc- 

 ing the Irish administration as unjust, exasper- 

 ating, and futile, was rejected by 307 against 

 240 votes. Dr. Clark, the champion of the High- 

 land crofters, offered an amendment demanding 

 home rule for Scotland, which failed to receive 

 Mr. Gladstone's support, was tempered by the 

 amendments of other members, and was then re- 

 jected by a vote of 181 to 141. Mr. Thomas, 

 who represents the W^elsh movement against 

 tithes, demanded the creation of a special de- 

 partment for the affairs of Wales, but after some 

 discussion his amendment was withdrawn. An 

 amendment in favor of developing further the 

 system of local government was defeated by a 

 large majority, as was also M. A. Acland's 

 amendment calling for free education, which 

 brought out the views of politicians of various 

 schools on the coming issues, Mr. Chamberlain 

 advocating a grant equivalent to the fees to vol- 

 untary as well as to board schools, while Mr. 

 Sexton, as representing the Irish Catholics, 

 joined the Secularists under Mr. Morley in con- 

 demning the Church schools. Mr. Cunning- 

 hame Graham, of the Socialistic wing of the 

 Radicals, moved an amendment calling on the 

 Government to consider the question of restrict- 

 ing the hours of labor, which Mr. Bradlaugh, 

 the democratic advocate of individual liberty, 

 disapproved, whereas the leader of the Tory 



