London, Feb. 11.
Parliament opened on Tuesday in rather depressing climatic conditions, though there was a fain large crowd in which, unlike what is usually the case, the men spectators seem to hive outnumbered the women by about three There was nothing of 1 novelty in the Royal Progress, Which was carried out the regulation lines and which perhaps nowadays does _not "draw" the public quite as much as it used to. It was a novelty, however, inside Parliament itself to see the Peers and Peeresses back in their court robes and all their pre-war splendour, Reror oF THE Lorps.
One wonders what they thought of the reference in the King's Speech to the reform of the House of Lords, since: it will mean that the majority of existing hereditary legislators will undoubtedly be excluded when the Government Bill becomes law. The majority of Unionists realize that. the Lords must be reformed, and it is far better for them to carry the task out when they are in power rather than leave it for—Labour when it comes to govern, La-hour might make short work of the Upper House in any form except on a purely electoral basis. As it is, the Government Bill will undoubtedly leave a large nucleus of existing peers.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.