The Montgomeryshire Express and Radnor Times

MACHYNLLETH. Mr Meredith Roberts. THE CAUSE THE COLONEL FIGHTS FOR. The Chairman ebserved that, as soon as they heard about the-well, somewhat long delayed, final conversion of their late member- --(laughter) —the Machynlleth people with oae voice said, Mr Humphreys-Owen is the one for us!" (loud cheers). Now he was amongst them ready for the fray, in a fighting spirit, and be intended retaining the Montgomery Boroughs with a greatly increased majority (hear, hear). "Mr Humphreys-Owen will fight for us, the people, against that great obstacle, the House of Lords (hear, hear). We have on the other hand, fighting for the cause of the Houae of Lords' Colonel Pryce-Jones. It is for us to decide who shall govern the country, whether it will be the Lords or ourselves-the people." Mr D. Edward Davies moved the following resolution in English and Welsh "That this meeting desires to express its unabated confidence in the present Government, and trusts it will at the close of the General Election be returned to power with a greater majority to support it in its beneficent work of furthering the interests of the people as against privilege and class interest." The Rev Thomas James seconded, also in Welsh, urging that the Government ought to be returned to power with a splendid majority that will settle the Lords once and for all." Mr. W. J. Evans, WHY HE HAD NOT SPOKEN BEFORE With rousing cheers the audience greeted the first appearance of Mr William John Evans on a political platform in Montgomeryshire. In a concise twenty minutes' speech, he said:- There ia one thing I should like to say at the very outset, and that is that in the candidature of Mr Humphreys-Owen he will have the very hearty support of Mr David Davies (loud cheers). I mention that because I have heard it suggested that Mr Davies will not assist Mr Humphreys- Owen. Need teas to say, that suggestion comes from the other side (laughter). He would have been here to-night, but he has bad to go to South Wales in connection with that huge National Memorial, that we are undertaking, upon which I we count for your support, So that in a sense I am his substitute, and a very unworthv one. Now, this is the first political that I have ever addressed in Wales. I have done! similar work in London, but never iu Wales! before. And I feel a peculiar pleasure that I -Machynlleth should be my first meeting (cheers). I At the last election there were several reasons why I didn't take th6 floor. One of them was that my mind and hands were fully occupied in other directions, as you can imagine. But there was another reason-I was not particularly sorry, so far as the Boroughs were concerned—(laugh- ter),-became, let me be perfectly frank with you, I had no very exalted admiration for your late member (laughter). The veil which he lifted about a year ago, he has removed altogether now, and rather shamelessly.-(A Voice: Hear, hear). WELSH POLITICAL GRATITUDE. A few months ago we sent to Lord Rendel-(Ioud cheers)—one of our memento cards, and I should like to read to you an extract out of his charac- teristic reply: "A Welsh virtue is political gratitude. Indeed, I doubt whether Wales does not stand alone in the possession of that gratitude. Their political gratitude is part of the larger feeling for the good deeds rf their forbears, which strongly marks the Welsh race." But there is another virtue he might very well have mentioned; it is the virtue of political con- sistency and political constancy (hear, hear). We don't ask you to support Mr Humphreys-Owen solely because of the debt of gratitude which we owe and never can repay to his father (hear, hear). We ask you to give him your whole- hearted support, first, because of the sound Liberal principles he stands for, and, secondly, because we know him to be a man of exceptional ability and sincerity, and a man who will be a distinct acquisition to the already able men in the Welsh Party (hear, hear, and cheers). You were told at the last election that the most important issue was the question of the House of Lords. Now if that wad the most important issue last January, it is ten times more important now (hear, hear). We have done our best to come to an agreement in a Conference; 21 meetings were held; and they came to nothing. One thing you may be perfectly well assured-if the Conser- vatives gain a major.ty at this election, whereas the House of Lords before chastised us with whips, they will afterwards do so with scorpions (laughter and cheers). THE PEER AND THE DOCTOR: A CONTRAST. Shall we examine the constitution of the House of Lords and afterwards the record of their work? With regard to the constitution, you probably all know that it consists of about 616 members, and of that number about 44 are Scottish and Irish peers, 26 are Episcopal peers, and the bulk, in fact you may say the whole with the excep- tion of a few, are hereditary legislators. In other words, a man has an absolute right to legislate in the affairs of this country simply because he has condescended to be born (laughter), Just examine how stupid that would be from any other point of view. Imagine a man sending for a doctor. The doctor has died. His eldest son turns up and wants to doctor him. The man says, Have you any qualification?" "No," he says, "but I believe in the doctrine of heredity" (laughter). Oh says the man, I'm not going to have you fiddling with my constitution (laughter). What will be the result? Well, if the young man's name were Milner, he would say, Oh damn the consequences!" (laughter and cheers). So much for the heieditary aspect. But let me go further than that. We have heard a lot of talk about their ability. I have oeen at some pains now and again to examine the list of- the principal speakers at one of their full-dress debates. You will find the same names time after time, and with one or two exceptions you will find that their most brilliant men are not the hereditary men, but the men who have been made Peers for work done. I refer to the Lord Chancellor, Lord Cromer, Lord Curzon, Lord James of Hereford, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Lord Milner, and others. AN M.P. AND A PEER: THE DIFFERENCE. But the principal objection in the constitution of the House of Lords must surely be their irresponsibility. If a member of the House of Commons does not behave himself, if he does not turn up, well, then, his constituents have some- thing very important to say, and an instance of that was given rather more than a year ago, when to use a phrase that has been used lately—Mr J. D. Rees had "to toe the line" (laughter). But with the House of Lords there is no such respon- sibility. A man can either turn up or he need not. And as a matter of fact very few of them do turn up at an ordinary sitting. If you were to go to the House of Lords on the occasion of art ordinary debate, you would find extremely few there. But you would see a number of red-leather benches; everything1 would be extremely dull; you would occasionally hear the dull monotone of the Chancellor saying in a sleepy kind of way, Those who are in favour will say 'Content'; those who are not will say Non-content. And then he says, I think the contents have it." That is the sort of routine that goes on generally during an ordinary debate, when they are not called together to defend their own interests. 3 PEERS OUT OF 616 A QUORUM! One of their most brilliant men, Lord Rosebery, said that on one occasion he was present in the House of Lords when a noble lord addressed him and two others for four hours by the clock (laughter). And Lord Ellenborough put Lord Rosebery right, and said, Pardon me, my lord, I was there for part of the time!" (laughter). Lord Rosebery in his inimitable way said, "I should correct myself. Lord Ellenborough has said he was there only partially. I therefore correct myself and say there were 31 peers present" (laughter). On another occasion he gave an instance of the Lord Chancellor and one othe- peer being present. The Lord Chancellor wanted to attend a dinner; the other peer wanted to make a speech (laughter). He made a speech and eventually the Lord Chancellor had-to use the technical expression—to count him out" because I may tell you that the quorum of the House of Lords is 3 (sensation). In other words, it is possible for three here- ditary legislators to counterbalance the whole weight of public opinion expressed through their representatives in the House of Commons (cries of Shame! ") I ask you if you can expect anything other than what you get from them ? llanllhted. o¡;, THEY HOLD ONE-THIRD OF THE LAND. But let us turn to their record. The Budget, which they threw out, is not the only thing on which we are attacking them. That was the cul- minating point, the last straw, which proberbially breaks backs. But their record before then was bad. You may safely assume that the Lords are opposed to any drastic reforms. And I don't con- demn them at all for that. I condemn ourselves for tolerating such a prehistoric system (hear, hear). If you or I were in similar positions we should probably act in precisely the same way, and it is as illogical to say that all the brains are in the House of Lords because of the ability of one or two as it is to coademn the whole House of Lords because a few are not what they should be. But it is the system that we condemn, and not the individuals merely because they are lords. The point is whether we are justified in having the whole government of the country controlled by one class, whatever that class may be.

THE CHAMPION (F THE PEOPLES RIGHTS. MR. ARTHUR ERSKIFE OWEN HUMPHREYS-OWEN FOR THE MONTGOMERY BOROUGHS.

WHEN AN M.P. BECOMES A LCRD. Mr Haydn Jones: If you could make them all Liberals, there would not be much trouble (laugh- ter). But didn't you hear Mr Evans sayingr that there is something in the atmosphere of the House of Lords that turns them Tory once they go up from the House of Commons. I will tell you why. While they were in the House of Commons they were responsible to you (hear, hear). And if they kicked over the traces—like Mr J. D. Rees- (laughter)-Sir J. D. Rees I should say-Sir J. D. Rees—you could call them to account. But no one can call a Lord to account if he were the biggest fool in the world (laughter) —and he begins to become quite independent of everyone and everything and turns Tory, of course (laughter). I was much amused before coming down from London last week. Lord Carrington said to me, Well, they are in a fix over the House of Lords at the present." What's the matter, my lord ? I said. Well, haven't you seen that Mr Balfour and Lord Lansdowne actually say they are going to reduce the House of Lords? And all the people, who think they won't be in it, are kicking up an awful row (loud laughter). Quite right! If the number of peers is to be reduced, many will think their birthright is being taken from them (laughter). A QUESTION FOR THE COLONEL. Colonel Pryce-Jones is a near neighbour of mine, and as such he is a great friend of mine. I don't like personalities; I fight elections without going into personal matters but I am not afraid I to tackle a man and his opinions. I saw a little cutting in a paper, where he is reported to have said:— Tariff Reform means taxing the foreigner as he taxes us." As he taxes us! As he taxes himself, the fool! That's what he does. Ask Colonel Pryce-Jones, if he comes here, why is wheat so much cheaper in our country so than it is in the Tariff Reform" countries ? And, if it is cheaper here, ask him how it is that the Tariff Reformer in Germany and France i3 foolish enough to pay a tax upon his wheat ? But don't you be misled by Tariff Reform," or any other side issues. They are only there to distract your attention. The one issue is, Are you going to be ruled by yourselves, or are you going to be ruled by others ? I We need, in the Welsh Party, young men who will go there with ideals fresh from the constitu- encies with the determination to do for Wales what no Englishman will do-make Welsh ques- tions the study of their life, not as against English questions, but determined, side by side with the great questions which affect the King- dom aa a whole, to see that gallant little Wales geti her fair share of legislation (loud cheers). Glyndwr Hooked. Mr H. R, Humphreys, Machynlleth's well-known eisteddfodic baritone, next rendered one of 11 Tal. fardd's election songs, I'r Gad, Feohgyn," the chorus of which was heartily taken up. One verse can led a special local appeal Ond rhaid cael brwdfrydedd yn nghalon pob gwr, Ac ysbryd rhyddfrydig yr enwog Glyndwr." Mae'r frwydr yn galw,—a'r frwydr a'n cwyd I yabryd arddechog ein brawd Dafydd Llwyd." Mr Arthur Humphreys-Owen. HIS WIFE: A PERSONAL EXPLANATION. Amid loud cheers, the Chairman next called upon "Our present Candidate and the future Member for the Montgomery Boroughs." Mr Humphreys-Owen said:— I look forward to a very hard campaign, and a very successful one. And I want to tell you how greatly I miss my wife on the platform here this evening. Now, you don't know my wife as well as I do (great laughter and cheers). Mr W. J. Evans said just now that there were some wicked rumours-probably from the other Party-that Mr David Davies was not going to help me. That was a wicked rumour, and I have had a very kind letter from him promising support. But I heard another rumour some time ago—that Mr David Davies had a Tory wife (laughter). Well, I don't believe that is true; but, if it is true, well-he bad better do what I did! I converted my wife (great laughter and cheers). And, if there is any danger in Plasdinam, well, Mr David Davies is pietty sure to convert his wife, too (re- newed laughter and cheers). Well, I wish to tell you that my wife, unfortunately, owing to circum- stances, is not fit to go out in the wintry weather, doing her work, going from friend to friend, and getting to know and to love the sympathy of the Welsh. She has got to defer that now. She will get to know you soon she is young, and she has the whole of her life in front of her. But that now her doctor says—(laughter)—and doctor's orders have got to be obeyed—(renewed laughter) -I' You don't go to Montgomeryshire, and get excited, and kill yourself. You have got to stay here, and be quiet." And, therefore, I miss my wife's help. I had to rush to London last Satur- day, and get back last night. And she said, Well, Arthur, I shan't see you for three weeks (loud laughter and sympathetic cheers). Write and tell me every day how you are getting on. I want to know how they are going, and how many people you are winning over. I am terribly anxious about it." And there is no man or woman in the Montgomeryshire Boroughs who is more anxious to see a good fight and a good win this time than my own wife (hear, hear, and cheers).

iIIifIIIiIiiI' n1 ——— Should the voice of one Lord Over-ride the wish of 10,000 Electors in Mont- gomeryshire P

LLANFYLLIN. A LIBERAL INSIDE AND OUTSIDE. Another crowded and enthusiastic Cymric audience faced Mr Humphreys- Owen in the Llanfyllin Town Hall last Tuesday night. Mr Thomas Edwards pre- sided, and remarked that they could safely say their present candidate had come to stay with them. "He is an all-round Lib- eral, inside and outsid&-(Iaughter and loud cheers)—and one of whom we are proud." Mr J. Pentyrch Williams proposed and Alderman Robert Jones seconded a resolu- tion for the Government, against the Lords, and pledging support to Mr Humphreys- Owen. The rising of the Liberal candidate was- the signal for a great ovation. Like one man the audience rose and cheered, and sang For he's a jolly good fellow." Mr. Humphreys-Owen. PEERS' HUMBUGGING APPEAL TO- THE PEOPLE. Mr Humphreys-Owen said that those who wished to "reform" the House of Lords from within propose appealing to the people by means of a Referendum. That is only another kind of a general election. Instead of voting for Colonel Pryce-Jones or Mr Humphreys-Owen, you would be asked to vote for a Scotch Land Values Bill, or an Irish Bill, or a Yorkshire Bill. About three-fourths of the people would abstain from voting, and there would not be suffi- cient interest in such an election to get a true, sound opinion from the people, as they do now. When your chosen repre- sentatives came before you, you could heckle and get the truth from them, and get to understand the questions of the day. If you had a Referendum, who is going to bother about explaining one side of a ques- tion or another, when you do not have a particular man identified with it to repre- sent you in Parliament ? (hear, hear). It is a humbugging way of making you be- lieve the House of Lords are going to ap- peal to the people. I believe there is only one way of appealing to the people, and that is the general election as we have it nowadays (cheers). "AMIDST THIS PRACTICAL, MERCEN- ARY TWENTIETH CENTURY." The Liberal party get considerable abuse (Continued on Page 7).

If you go backwards a little bit you will find I that the Hou3e of Lordj have always been opposed to reform. It is perfectly natural, because any reform is worse to them than if things remain as they are. No measure of reform will be brought in which would improve theii privileges, and you can safely assuma that any measure of reform is likely to reduce their privileges. Therefore they are opposed to it. It is bad to have any claas with a predominant voice; it is worse when that class is already the strongest class in the country, the wealthiest class, the class which holds J of the land! SATAN ACCUSING OF SIN. 1832 was the turning point in our modern history. The Reform Act changed the whole I political complexion of the country. And it was not until King William had eventually promised in writing to create, if necessary, enough peers to swamp the Opposition that they gave way. Since then they have opposed the Ballot. They have opposed the Franchise. They have opposed the ¡' removal of the disabilities attached to Jews. It was not until living memory that we, poor Non- conformists, were allowed to go to Oxford and Cambridge; and they held that up for 20 years. It was not until living memory that they abol- ished Church Rates; and they took seven years to do it. It was only lately that we could be buried in a Churchyard by our own minister, and they took six or seven years to do that. And yet they come to you and say they are j "interpreting the will of the people!" (laughter). The point for you to consider is whether that "interpreting the will of the people!" (laughter). The point for you to consider is whether that system, which I call pre-historic, should continue, j There is no question of class prejudice. The question is whether you are going to allow one class, and that already the strongest class in the country, to over-rule every Liberal measure. We are told that we Liberals are all for Single Cham- ber Government. It is like Satan accusing of sin (laughter). When the Conservatives are in there is no House of Lords-they can go to sleep or thoot or play golf (laughter). When the Liberals are in, well, the House ot Commons might just as well cease to exist so far as the bigger reforms are concerned, because then the only Chamber that has any power is the House of Lords. CONSERVATIVES, THINK TWICE! In the House of Lords, out of 616 there are only 100 Liberals. And even that is sometimes thrown in our faces-we appoint peers from Liberals, and they change their colour (laughter). I think that is an argument en our side; it shows that the very atmosphere of the House of Lords is bad (laughter). I am sure you will vote straight for Mr Hum- phreys-Owen (hear, hear, and loud cheers). He is the best possible candidate we could have bad in this county, and I only wish we had him five years ago (laughter and cheers). To our friends-we are all friends, but to our political friends, I may put it that way—all I say is Stand firm! And where there are any who are not our political friends, let them at least admit that all the patriotism and sincerity is not on the other side. And let them think twice before they return a Conservative Government on the death-bed ¡ repentance of the House of Lords (loud cheart).

Who Promised Old Age Pensions ? The Tories.

Mr. Haydn Jones. WILL WELCOME MR. HUMPHREYS-OWEN TO ST. STEPHEN. Mr Haydn Jones-" Meirion's hero," as the chairman introduced him-received an ovation on rising to speak in Welsh with a postscript in English. He expressed the sympathy of Merion ethshire Liberals with the Montgomery Boroughs that they had been sold (laughter and hear, hear) —and they had had a splendid deliverance. He had sat for months alongside their late Membt r without knowing in the world whether he was a Tory or Liberal; he was like a man astride a stile who did not know which way to go-(Iaught(-r)- but he had gone over to his own place (hear hear). Now the Montgomery Liberals were going in for a man with Liberal traditions in his heart, the son of me who haa carried the banner of freedom anc Liberalism in the county (hear, hear). "I shall be glad 10 welcome him to the House of Commons," observed the speaker, who is being returned without opposition from Merioneth- shire Tories," I am going tlare, you know (laugh- ter). And Mr Humphreys-0 wen is going there, too" (loud cheers). The speaker described the Liberals, after the failure of the Conference, spying it was useless for them to spend time in Puliament when they knew the Iords would throw everything out. We come to you now to ast jou to send us back, with one object alone this tinM, to put the House of Lords A Voice: Ar dan — "On fire" — (loud laughter). Mr Haydn Jones: I don't know will you put it on fire or not. Mr Humphreys-Owen is a believer in the House of Lords, and I don't know that Mr Evans is not. I am more of a Radical than bhem (laughter). I don't believe in the House of Lords. But, so long as England is as it is, we must face the fact that people generally believe in a House of Lords also. If we want a Kouse of Lords that will do some good, what is it to be ? A Voice: Lib'rals i Qydl"—"All Libecals (loud laughter and cheers). I

Who Gave Old Age Pensions ? The Liberals.

"THE MODERATE MAN": TORIES' SLY GAME. I spent my Sunday in London yesterday, and- now I am getting closer to the subject-London is a wonderful place for studying Toryism. And there is one remarkable thing about London. Un Sunday morning a great Tory paper comes out, called The Observer." And after everybody has been working hard all the week, and speeches have been made one side and the other, Liberal or Tory, well, you have to wait for the Sunday morn- ing to know all the Tory Party are advocating. So I read the Sunday morning paper in London in order to see what is the programme of the Tory Party. And they appealed to the moderate man." Well, now, the Tories have got rather a sly game on. They don't like to face the simple, I plain issue. But they always rely on there being a large number of undecided people in the world, wobblers, and timid folk. And they think they can turn these men over by frightening them (laughter). So I looked at the Tory programme, end I almost believed that they had turned EadioW-(Iaughter)-or, at least, have promised the very same thing that the Radical Party had (more laughter). And, of course, a moderate man would not know which to choose. But they think that he always gives his vote for the man who puts the British flag at the top of his electioneer- ing address (laughter). What does the Tory Party offer to the electorate ? They say:— "The House of Lords is absolutely neces- sary." We doubt that. It never thwarts the will of the people." How did they find that out? (laughter). The Tory programme I saw in a local paper says we mean to destroy the Second House. The Tory Party try to make out that we don't try to keep up a strong Navy. It is all humbug! (laughter and ohaers). Every man, who loves his country, wishes to keep up the safety of his country. And we are all paying for it, and nobody grudges the money. They talk about -1 insurance against in- validity" as if it were a special scheme of the Tory Party. Why! Mr Lloyd George has pro- mised a scheme to come in next year (cheers). THE BUDGET:' AN UNACCEPTED CHALLENGE. They talk about the effects of the Budget. Well, that was passed and done with a year ago, and I should be very grateful if anybody in this room, who have suffered from this Budget, will get up and explain his trouble (laughter). Will some of these gentlemen with £ 5,000 a year, who pay the super-tax, come and tell us how hard hit they are ? (more laughter). Of course, the Tories have promised to relieve you from the loss and the damage and the distress caused by the Budget. After a pause Mr Humphreys-Owen continued: There is not one man in this room hit by the Budget, Mr Chairman! Not one! MR LLOYD GEORGE AND A LORD- A GOOD WORD FOR BOTH. Well, I don't believe there is any, or should be, any personal ill-feeling between Lords as men and anybody else as men. It is not the person that we are attacking; it is the institutions, it is the customs and the sentiments of the aristocracy that do so much harm to the country. There is an excellent instance of this called to my mind. At the last election I went to a Tory meeting at Welshpool, and the chair was taken by the local Earl, whom I have the greatest respect for. He drew a very striking contrast between a noble friend of his, who had perished for his country in South Africa, and Mr Lloyd George, who ran in danger of his life at the same moment in a very dangerous and rough meeting in Birmingham. He drew a picture, which was very much to the discredit of Mr Lloyd George, and very much to the honour of his friend, But I don't think he drew the proper lesson. There was nothing finer, more courageous, more unselfish and patriotic than that a man blessed with great family possessions and wealth and everything that the world can give should go out and fight for his country in a far away land simply because he thinks his country asked for it. It was a noble deed, and no man can do better than that. AFTER-THOUGHTS OF WAR. But at the end of it all, after he has done it, one always has a feeling that there was terrible muddle and waste of something precious, some- thing valuable, something which can never be recalled, something which has passed out of the life of the world, and left nothing but possibly a very sacred and very cherished memory behind it. Compare him with Mr Lloyd George. He was one of the most hated men in England at that day. He stood for a cause which was detested by the music hall crowd, by the excitable, Mafficking crowd in London and other big cities. He went and faced his enemies—his own countrymen-in Birmingham, and, if it hadn't been for the plans of the committee that arranged the meeting, they would have torn him limb from limb and killed him. He stood up for what he considered right and proper, and for a cause which afterwards has been proved to have been the right one (cheers). There was not very much difference between Lord Airlie, who was killed on the battle-field in South Africa, and Mr Lloyd George, who just escaped with his life in Birmingham, but there is this one thing-we are thankful that Mr Lloyd George was able to continue to carry out his principles and to live to be forgiven possibly by those who hated him at that time. I think those who hate him and distrust him and curse him now should find a corner in their humanity and their intelli- gence to realise the sincerity of the man, the power of the man, and the real good that he wishes to do, and the patriotism that really exists in such a service (cheers). REFORMING A WASP. The difference between the aristocracy and the people is the trouble. They don't meet often enough. the whole question of this election, you know, is tha House of Lords. The House of Lords have suddenly awakened to their conscience —(laughter)—and they are ready to reform thomselves (more laughter). Well, we are ready to reform them, too, no doubt, when the time comes (great laughter). But I want to warn you not to reform the House of Lords until you have removed from them the very dangerous weapon they possess at present—that is, the Veto (cheers). I sometimes think we might as well try to talk about reforming a wasp before you take the sting from it (laughter). You might wish to paint a wasp black and green instead of black and yellow, but you have to take the sting from it first of all before you do it. And the sting of the House of Lords is that they have a hereditary and rooted objection to progressive and to Liberal legis- lation. They will never pass a really Liberal measure; they will do their utmost to delay and to destroy it. And their only methods of reform are to concentrate and to strengthen themselves in order to enable them to acquire that object (hear, hear). Yon will hear—I don't know whether the Tory candidate will come down and talk in Machyn- lleth—(laughter)—but you will hear talk about the Referendum, the appealing to the people. We believe in appealing to the people. We believe the House of Commons is the people, it represents the people (hear, hear). They take extreme cases as if the House of Commons would do away with the House of Lords and put Mr Keir Hardie on the Throne—(laughter)—and all nonaense of that kind. But I don't believe any man in the country thinks that the Liberal House of Com- mons, which possesses such men as Mr David Davies, and all the great merchants, all the great millionaires and all the great business men, the great lawyers, the great philanthropists of the country would ever be so mad as to find a majority to do an insane, bestial, idiotic action (cheers). I don't believe if it came to such a thing as Single Chamber Government, that it would be such an evil thing for the country. But we don't want Single Chamber Government. We want a Second Chamber to relieve and to assist the House of Commons. That's what we want in the House of Lords (cheers). Mr Asquith's proposals are simply to remove the Veto of the House of Lords. They will have plenty of opportunity even then to check Liberal measures—they will have a limit of two years to do it in (laughter). IF THE LORDS CANVASSED. There will be nothing better for their Lord- ships than to have to come to the electorate and to have to fight the election, and take their chance—the same as I am doing to-night (laughter and loud cheers). Don't ycu think that the House of Lords would be better if their Election time came around, and they had to go and fight constituencies, if they had to go around from door to door, and go in and say, Good day, Mrs Jones! How are you, Mrs Jones?" and shake hands with her, and ask What time does your husband come back from work ? I want to sit down and have a talk with him, to know how times and trade are, how you are getting on. And what can I do for you, Mrs JoRes P That's what we want to see the Lords doing (great laughter and cheers). If they bad to do it at Election time, after being through an election or two, they would get to know more about the people than they did before. Wouldn't that be a splendid time for some of their Lordships (renewed laugh- ter and cheers). I think after they had been through the Election that the people themselves would weed out the bad ones, and leave the good enes in, and we should get a useful and repre- sentative House of Lords to assist the enormous work of the House of Commons. That is the ideal which I haye in mind. What are the Lords at present ? Self-elected, and chosen by their great-great-great-grand- fathers, and people before them (laughter). And what I distrust most of all are the efforts they make now to reform themselves. "FIX BAYONETS!" Now, some of us in Maohynlleth go in for military life—(cheers)—and there is nothing more romantic and picturesque and healthy than the lessons we learn from military life. I some- times think the House of Lords is like the enemy we have in the fort or in the entrenchments. I feel at this election as if we jeally had got up to- the last rush, that we were close up to the last 100 yards, when you can fix bayonets and go at them without stopping to take breath (laughter and cheers). Election after election we get nearer to them, and now we can see their faces. Suddenly a flag of truce appears, and they offer to- hand over to us all their poor men, and their cripples (laughter). They say, "We will let you have all our idiots and our incompetent men (laughter). We will reform ourselves alright. We will be a fine House of Lords (laughter). But don't come and take our fortress just yet. We are alright! But we don't want their halt and their maimed and their blind. We want the fortress itself! (hear, hear). We want to get them out and get our own legislation through. If we get them out we can say they are prisoners of war—(laughter)—and see who are the able and the competent amongst them. We can make friendships with them and allies with them, and there will be no more useful set of men than the Lords themselves. They can come on to our own ground and act as allies with us in managing the affairs of the country (cheers). "I HOPE" But my Liberal principles are perfectly sound, I assure you (cheers). Somebody made a remark that I was gifted with ability and sincerity. I assure you I am gifted with sincerity. I doubt my ability because I have a fairly high ideal of ability and I don't quite know what standard I am supposed to be judged by. But when I get to the House of Commons, I hope, by the assistance of Mr David Davies, Mr Haydn Jones, and other men, to carry on the good work that the fore- fathers have done for Wales (hear, hear, and loud cheers). I hope to be proof against the atmos- phere of the House of Commons, which was so deteriorating to our late Member (loud laughter). I hope to meet the good friendship and comrade- ship of the House of Commons, where Liberal and Tory are all on the same ground and good friends together. I hope I shall distinguish the good from the bad and the sincere from the unsincere -(hear, hear)—and I hope that Welsh questions and Welsh subjects will have prompt attention and deep interest, which should be an advantage to the country, to Wales itself and to Machynlleth in particular (loud and prolonged cheers). The Chairman invited questions but the only response was a Voice: Where is J. D. Rees ? (loud laughter). Mr Humphreys-Owen: Nobody cares (laughter and cheers). Mr J. M. Breeze moved a resolution pledging support to the candidate so as to secure his triumphant return to Parliament. Rev D. H. Hughes. SELF-DEFENCE. The Rev D. H. Hughes seconded and remarked sarcastically that he ought to apologise because he, a minister of the Gospel, stood on a political platform. A local paper had said that their place as a minister was not on a political platform, but in the pulpit. In self-defence he (Mr Hughes) read the following paragraph from the current issue of the JExptesa':— PARSON AND POLITICIAN, Too.-The Rev D. Ellis Rowlands, M.A., formerly curate of Welsh- pool, but now vicar of Middletown and Great Wollaston. was one of the speakers last Tuesday evening-- "Don't think" (commented Mr Hughes) I wish to emphasise the words that follow, that is not my intention," —at the Lion Hotel, Westbury, in connection with the "General Herbert" Lodge of the National Conservative League. To Mr Rowlands was also entrusted the reading of the League's electioneering manifesto. (laughter). I want to demand in spite of that newspaper," remarked Mr Hughes, Home Rule for myself (laughter and applauee). I have a vote. It is no worse because I am a minister. It ought to be better, there ought to be something behind it. But that has nothing to do with the question. What we want is perfect freedom." With great enthusiasm the meeting carried the resolution. No hand was held up against. Mr Humphreys-Owen moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman, and remarked in Welsh that the one question of the Election was: Pwy sydd i reoli-Ty yr Arglwyddi neu Ty y Bobl ? (laughter and loud cheers). Dr. W. R. Williams. A SIMPLE QUESTION. Dr W. R. Williams seconded and received from the audience a great demonstration of his popu- larity in Machynlleth. Speaking in Welsh he also remarked that this important Election was being fought on one little question something like "Has anybody here seen Kelly?" (great laughter). "Are we for the Lords or against them?" A schoolboy in Standard III could almost answer that (laughter). After removing the one stumbling block. Home Rule and Dises- tablishment and all other reforms would be added unto them (laughter and cheers). The resolution having been carried, an enthusi- as meeting ended with the singing of Land of my Fathers," When Mr Humphreys-Owen appeared outside the Town Hall he was hoisted shoulder high and carried amid great cheering to the Wynnstay Hotel. There came further requests for a speech, to which he responded amid loud laughter and more cheering with the Cymric sentence: Yr Arglwyddi neu y Bobl, onide ? (" The Lords or the People, isn't it ?