Parliament's Week

COMMONWEALTH

(British Commonwealth of Nations)

Parliament's Week

House of Lords. A bill introduced in the Commons by Frank Briant, Liberal Member for Lambeth, would enable peeresses in their own right to sit in the House of Lords. Members of all parties, including the well-advertised Lady Astor, support the measure. The bill would affect 24 British peeresses, including the Duchess of Fife, the Countesses of Cromartie, Loudoun and Seafield, Countess Roberts, and Viscountesses Wolseley and Rhondda.

Viscountess Rhondda has led the fight for the admission of peeresses to the Lords. The case was referred to the Privileges Committee of the Commons. She claimed a seat on the Sex Disqualification Act of 1919, which provides that a person shall not be disqualified by sex from the exercise of any public function. The Committee, rejecting the plea, said that a seat in the Lords was an "honor" and not a "public function." Briant's bill may lead to the establishment of "The House of Lords and Ladies."

House of Commons. By a vote of 343 to 13 the House rejected a pacifist motion introduced by Walter Ayles, a young Quaker Labor-Socialist, representing North Bristol, proposing a sweeping reduction in the British Army of 150,000 men. The authorized strength of the British Army is 225,588 all ranks, including 71,357 British Garrison in India, so the measure was tantamount to the abolition of the British Home forces, exclusive of the 135,000 Territorial (or Militia) forces. A small bloc of former "conshies," or Conscientious Objectors, were the only M. P.'s in favor of reduction. The Government held that one nation disarmed in the midst of an armed world would not bring about a general armament reduction.