124 



The Review of Reviews. 



The Welsh 



Disestablishment 



Bill. 



victory; but, on the other hand, he sees that to 

 abandon it would split the party to pieces; So he 

 wriggles out of it in this fashion : " We are Taril^" 

 Reformers, but we are also Conservatives, and we 

 shall take care that any change in our fiscal system 

 for which we are responsible is as little revolutionary 

 as possible." The size of the servant girl's baby over 

 again ! 



Next Session is to be devoted to 

 Home Rule, Welsh Disestablish- 

 ment, and the Franchise question. 

 No one knowswhat the Home Rule 

 Bill is to be like — that secret is jealously preserved ; 

 but Mr. McKenna has satisfied all curiosity as to the 

 Welsh Disestablishment Bill by his speech delivered 

 in the Queen's Hall on January 28th, in which he 

 outlined its principal provisions. They certainly do 

 not seem to err on the side of harshness. All exi-ting 

 vested interests are preserved intact. Every bishop, 

 parson and curate will continue to enjoy the same 

 salary which was paid to him at the time when the 

 Bill was passed. The whole of the Church plant, that 

 is to say, the churches, cathedrals, parsonage houses, 

 etc., will be handed over lock, stock and barrel to 

 the disestablished community. . This is calculated to 

 be equivalent to a capital sum of one million sterling. 

 The Church also will be allowed to retain all the 

 endowments which came to it since 1660, which 

 amount to about another ^19,000 per annum. When 

 all these deductions have been made there will be 

 _;^i8i,ooo a year remaining, which will be diverted 

 from its present Anglican uses to national purposes, 

 according to the discretion of local authorities. What a 

 chance there is for a Welsh Carnegie to re-endow the 

 Church with a lump sum of, say, four millions sterling ! 

 There has been great confusion last 



The Problem month in the Liberal camp on the 

 of ' 



Woman's Suffrage, subject of woman's suffrage. Mr. 



Asquith, having in his inconse- 

 quent fashion suddenly committed the Cabinet to 

 manhood suffrage, which no one was asking for, 

 found himself confronted by the dilemma of the 

 woman's vote. He regards woman's sufiVage as 

 disastrous to the State, but tiic ni.ijority of liis col- 

 leagues, including Mr. Lloyd George, Sir Ldward 

 Grey, and Lord Haldane, are equrdly convinced that 

 it would be disastrous to the State to refuse to admit 

 women to full rights of citizenship. As a way out it 

 was agreed to let tiie House of Commons decide. If 

 the House voted for woman's suffrage Mr. Asquith 

 pledged himself to bow toils decision, and make 

 woman's suffrage a (iovernnient measure, however 



By f£7missioK of the f'roprictors of ' ' /'//^/t /t."] 



United We Differ. 



Mr. Lloyd George : " Votes for women ! 

 listen to my esteemed colleague ! " 



Mr. Harcourt : " No votes for women ! 

 co!le.igue is talking nonsense ! " 



Don't you 

 My esteemed 



disastrous he might deem it Lo the State. This 

 decision naturally excited much amazement, and the 

 Daily Chronicle and the IVesimittster Gazette sug- 

 gested that the question should be submitted 

 10 a ple'biscite of the existing electors. Mr. 

 Asquith had already shaken his- wise head 

 adversely over this proposal, but that in no way 

 deterred bis journalistic friends from making a 

 campaign for a Referendum. The women revolted 

 against this proposal as a dodge to cheat them out of 

 their anticipated success. Mr. F. E. Sm'ith and other 

 Tory oi)poiicnts of enfranchisement naturally took the 

 other side. The battle rages and will continue to 

 rage. Mr. Astjuith probably looked to the House of 

 Lords as a detis ex mac/iitia to avert the " disaster 

 to the State." But as everyone, including the 

 Cabinet Ministers, in favour of the measure believes 

 that the female vote will be preponderatingly Tory, 

 the Lords will be under a sore temptation to enfran- 

 chise the women and dish the Libera*l Party. Per- 

 sonally, I cannot bring myself to think that the Peers 

 will make such a leap in the dark. If I am riglit Mr. 

 Asquith will be saved. W hetlier he deserves to be 

 saved is another matter. 



i\ 



