THE INSENSATE "PARTY" SYSTEM iNf PARLIAMENT 237 



House on November 25, 1908, and the keen interest taken in 

 the destruction of the Licensing Bill, ])rove how excessively 

 energetic tliuy can be once vested interests are threatened. 

 Another of the London dailies had the following : — 



"PEERS AS BREWERY SHAREHOLDERS 

 Men AYho KiUiED the Bill in the Lords 



REMARKABLE BLACK LIST 



"Li the majority against the Licensing Bill in the House of 

 Lords yesterday were the following peers whose names appear as 

 shareholders in brewery companies. Some of these peers hold the 

 stock as trustees, either for their families or for others.* 



• ••••• 



"TLis list, moreover, is not exhaustive, for only forty or fifty 

 companies out of 200 are examined, and the debenture holders, who 

 are probably a larger class, are not known. 



"In the lists of shareholders examined 1-iU peers own between 

 them as much as £2,41G,OU() worth of stock. 



"It is obvious that the position of a trustee places a peer in a 

 different position from a private stockholder, and in quoting these 

 names we do not for a moment suggest that these peers were 

 influenced by considerations of private interest. But the list shows 

 to what an extent the class from which the peers are drawn have 

 been induced to invest in companies fur the sale of liquor, and 

 demonstrates the hold which the trade has aciiuired in high places. 



" It is a statutory rule that no magistrate shall sit as a licensing 

 justice who has an interest in the trade. If this salutary condition 

 had been applied to the Lords, so that no peer should vote against 

 the Licensing Bill who had interests in the trade, the majority for 

 the Bill would have been much smaller." t 



Party System up for Trial 



These two notable examples of the failure of the present 

 political system to meet national requu-ements will suffice, 

 although numberless instances of its hopeless inadequacy 

 might be cited. 



The Party system was designed to serve nobler interests 

 than these, but it has failed, and the People are asking for 

 reform in no uncertain voice. 



" Where are those laws," they say, " that should prominently 

 mark the efforts of our legislators in the cause of the people, 

 and justify them as litting representatives of the nation ? " 



" Where are those reforms which it is the right of British 



* The list of peers who voted is omitted, 

 t Daily Chronicle, Novemher 28, 1908. 



