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Show BIG VOTE FDR OHM iETSJPPOSITl Political Situation in Great Britain Calmer Since Tuesday's Action. BILL CERTAIN TO PASS General Election Thought Unlikely; Referendum Suggested. LONDON, Jan. 7, 10:30 p. m. The political situation today was calmer . af tor the overwhelming vote obtained i by the government in the house Thursday Thurs-day night on the first reading of its compulsion bill. The reassuring size of the government's majority in the lower house of parliament offset to a considerable con-siderable degree the anti-conscription-ist vote of the labor congress, which also was partly discounted bv the attitude atti-tude of such important labor leaders as Arthur Henderson, who resigned as president of the board of education, and John Ward, George Nicoll Barnes and John Hodge, members of the house of commons. The position of these men is that the vote of the labor congress was too hasty and ill considered to be regarded as reflecting the actual feeling of the labor men ot the country. Parliament Meets Monday. Parliament did not meet today and will not sit again until Monday. The indications are that the conscription bill will be passed through the house of commons in order that it may reach the house of lords in ample time for passage before the end of the month. Jn some quarters talk of a general election still persists, but it is certain that a considerable part of even the opponents of compulsion do not want a resort to the ballot. Gossip is generally agreed that Premier Pre-mier Asquith will have little difficulty in filling the vacancies in his cabinet caused by the resignation of Mr. Henderson Hen-derson and Sir John A. Simon, the home secretary. Herbert L. Samuel, at present pres-ent postmaster general, is the most talked of as Sir" John A. Simon's successor, suc-cessor, but there has been no general agreement in the gossip as to the probable prob-able man for Mr. Henderson's place. Referendum Proposed. To the American reader one of the most interesting suggestions heard in London today was the proposal to introduce in-troduce the referendum as an alternative alterna-tive for a general election, if dangerous danger-ous hostility appears to be developing in the country at large during the later stages of the conscription bill before parliament. The referendum frequently frequent-ly has been suggested in England during dur-ing the last few years as a desirable addition to the legislative machinery of the kingdom. It was adopted as a part of the Unionist programme of constitutional reform five or six years ago. Additional prominence was given to it in December, 1910. when Arthur J. Balfour, then leader of the opposition, gave his pledge at a moustcr Unionist meeting in London that no tariff reform re-form bill would be enacted without its submission to the referendum. Bill Not Pressed. A bill providing for the use of the referendum in disputes between the house of lords and the house of commons com-mons was introduced in parliament with influential backing in 1911, but was not pressed to the final stage. The advocates of the referendum now plead that, the question of compulsion, being isolated from all other questions of domestic, politics, is particularly suitable suit-able for the test of a popular vote. Moreover, they Bay that the vote even of the men in the trenches on a simple yes and no question could be taken without inconvenience, whereas the ordinary or-dinary parliamentary ballot would be im possible. |