WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

206 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE
period later cut down in Committee to seven months. The
second, the Special Register Bill, provided for the compiling
of a new Parliamentary Register, to be ready in May, 1917,
the ordinary statutory dates for sending of precepts, preparation
of lists, etc., being varied for this purpose; and further
made an extension of the usual provisions for the removal
of electoral disabilities, to the effect that soldiers, sailors and
munition workers, who would have qualified for inclusion in
the Register if they had stayed at home, should be duly
entered on it.
The first of these two measures was duly carried by both
Houses, and the life of Parliament extended until April 30th,
1917. But the second measure called forth a lively controversy.
It was felt that something rather more far-reaching
than the actual provisions of the Bill was wanted to ensure
that all men who were risking their lives in defence of their
country should be entitled to vote for the Parliament that
would not only determine the terms of peace but the conditions
under which the Britain for whom these men had
fought should henceforth be governed. But the recognition
of this principle raised the further question of women's suffrage,
with which the Bill as originally drafted failed to deal.
So after some debate had taken place, Mr. Walter Long proposed
that the Bill should be dropped, and the Speaker asked
to summon a conference, representing as far as possible all
sections of political opinion, to examine the whole question of
the Franchise and Electoral Reform, and see whether an
agreed settlement of these issues could not be found.
Mr. Lowther accepted this task, and invited some thirtytwo
men representing the most varied angles of political
thought on the issue in question, and including five members
of the House of Lords, to serve in his Conference. It held its
first meeting on October 12th, 1916, and promptly got down
to a close study of the problems it had been invited to review.