The Bill will be read a third time next Thursday,
and will, we presume, immediately be sent to the Peers. We most earnestly trust that the Lords will do their duty by the Bill, and not be afraid of dealing with it on its merits, quite apart from whether their action will be popular or unpopular. In our opinion, what the Lords should do is to pass a Resolution postponing consideration of the measure till the Report of the Commission now sitting to inquire into the whole subject of poor relief has been issued. For the House of Lords to pass a Bill which is necessarily dependent on that Report some six or eight weeks before the Report is issued would be a dereliction of duty which they must avoid at all costs. If the Lords need any excuse for such action as we suggest, it is to be found in plenty in the constant references by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and other Government speakers to the modifications in their scheme which they intend to make after the Report is issued. Again and again the mouths of the Government's critics have been stopped by the declaration that this or that matter can only be fully dealt with when taken into consideration with the Report.
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