Resisting the Inevitable? The Parliament Act 1911

The Parliament Act 1911, limiting the veto power of the house of lords, constitutes a major piece of constitutional legislation in the United Kingdom. The vulnerability of the house of lords to major change was long‐standing and to be found in the actions of prime ministers over more than a century. The constitutional crisis leading to the passage of the act was triggered by the rejection of the budget by the Lords in 1909. However, the outcome of the crisis was by no means certain, either in terms of the provisions of the Parliament Bill or its passage. It was neither a product of a clash between peers and people or a principled debate as to the place of the second chamber in the nation's constitutional arrangements. It was the result of the stances taken on the issue that had dominated British politics since the 1880s: Irish home rule. This determined that the house of lords would be subject to change, not in terms of composition but in respect of its powers. In terms of the contemporary relevance of the act, attempts at further changes to the second chamber constitute neither history repeating itself nor unfinished business.     

‘Too Wild to Succeed’: The Occasional Conformity Bills and the Attempts by the House of Lords to Outlaw the Tack in the Reign of Anne*

By the late 17th century it had been largely established as a part of the ‘constitution’ that the house of commons played the leading role in proposing financial legislation and that the house of lords by convention could not amend such bills, but only accept or reject them. From the late 1670s, the practice developed of the Commons ‘tacking’ money or supply bills to other, controversial legislation, to try to ensure that the Lords would pass the whole bill. This underhand proceeding sometimes worked, but at other times the Lords amended the non‐monetary parts in such a way as to render the bill unacceptable to the Commons, but such actions sometimes resulted in the loss of financial legislation necessary for the king's government. From the 1690s, the whig‐dominated Lords attempted to ‘outlaw’ tory‐backed tacking by protesting at its unparliamentary nature. This culminated in a formal declaration by the House in 1702 of the unconstitutionality of tacking. The last major attempt at tacking took place over the Occasional Conformity Bills of 1702–4. The final bill of 1704 essentially failed, however, because of the party strengths in the Lords when the tories were outvoted by the whigs. The Lords, however, continued to condemn tacking until at least 1709.     

河南省体育场商代祭祀遗址发掘简报

2015年,郑州市文物考古研究院为配合河南省体育场网球馆项目建设,对该区域勘探所见的古代遗址进行了考古发掘。清理出环壕、夯土墙、建筑基址、祭祀场、祭祀坑、灰坑、墓葬等丰富的商代文化遗迹,出土了铜器、玉器、石器、陶器、骨器等重要遗物。河南省体育场商代遗址的祭祀遗存是近年来郑州商城最重要的新发现之一,这一祭祀遗址的发现为郑州商城的研究提供了非常重要的新资料。     

St Stephen's in War and Peace: Civil Defence and the Location of Parliament, 1938–51

This essay takes a new look at the destruction and the rebuilding of the house of commons during the 1940s. It argues that behind the home front bravado of the Palace of Westminster steadfastly enduring the blitz lay secret plans for rehousing MPs away from aerial bombardment, contingency scenarios that were then updated after 1945 in the event of attack on London by atomic weapons. The essay also suggests that threats to the security of parliament, together with the necessity to rebuild the Commons, were turned by the coalition government into an opportunity to refashion parliamentary politics in such a way that the two‐party system was restored, along the traditional lines of government and opposition that had become blurred since 1931.     

陕西境内遗址表面CaSO42H2O产生之水盐运移规律研究

陕西境内遗址出土后短时间内表面产生白色物质CaSO₄2H₂O是非常普遍的现象。本研究利用土柱模拟遗址出土后表面产生CaSO₄2H₂O的过程,通过监测土柱中土壤的湿度、含盐量及离子变化综合分析CaSO₄2H₂O产生的原因,研究结果表明遗址出土后形成了新的界面层,在蒸发的作用下,地下水沿土壤孔隙向上迁移,同时将可溶盐带入土壤中,表面的可溶盐含量逐渐增大,达到峰值后不再增加,实验后测得表面土壤中的Ca²⁺和SO2-₄是原始土壤的数十倍,说明遗址表面产生CaSO₄2H₂O是水盐运移的结果。本研究可为遗址出土后预防CaSO₄2H₂O的产生提供依据。     

金沙土遗址盐害分布与演化特征

金沙土遗址表面存在泛盐、粉化、空鼓等盐害。对这些盐害的分布特征与演化过程的研究是科学保护金沙土遗址的第一步，也是进一步探讨盐害致病机理的前提条件。本工作收集整理了2010～2020年金沙土遗址病害调查资料，通过现场调查和图像处理技术对盐害的类型、分布特征与演化过程进行定性和定量分析；采用X射线衍射、离子色谱和扫描电镜等测定了不同高度土样的成分、盐分含量以及微观结构。结果显示金沙土遗址主要的盐害类型为表面泛盐、粉化、空鼓、片状剥蚀和掏蚀；主要分布区域是西北向走廊和古河道附近，机挖坑侧壁最为严重；在探方侧壁上盐害由上到下依次由表面泛盐过渡到单独粉化，再到空鼓和片状剥蚀，最底层为掏蚀。金沙土遗址盐害的发育过程可以概括为四个阶段，每个阶段主要发育的盐害类型不同，依次为表面泛盐、粉化、片状剥蚀和掏蚀。越到后期，各类盐害分布范围越大，发展速度越快，对土遗址破坏性越大。离子浓度沿高度的分布与毛细上升作用有关，也与病害的劣化程度和发育进程有关。硫酸钙类是导致土遗址泛盐、粉化和脱落的主要盐分之一。     

The Whips of the Liberal Unionist Party in the House of Commons

This note provides the most complete list of Liberal Unionist whips in the house of commons, thus contributing to our understanding of the history of the party in parliament over the entire period of its existence from 1886 to 1912, and charts the extent of the responsibility of the party whip for the organisation of the party outside the house of commons, which peaked during the tenure of Lord Wolmer as whip from 1888 to 1892. The note concludes by observing that the division of labour regarding organisation implemented in the Conservative Party in 1911 mirrors that adopted by the Liberal Unionist Party in 1892, and that this was likely the result of Wolmer, now 2nd earl of Selborne, serving on the committee that recommended the 1911 reforms.     

河南荥阳官庄遗址陶范物源及制作工艺分析

Guanzhuang site is located in the west of Guanzhuang Village, Gaocun Township, Xingyang City, Henan Province. From the site, more than 3 000 pottery moulds have been unearthed, with various types, including the moulds for containers, tools, chariots, weapons, money and core, etc. According to the types and decorations of pottery moulds and the characteristics of co - existing pottery, the pottery moulds of Guanzhuang site can be divided into two periods—Phase I dating from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period, and phase TJ considered between the early and middle Spring and Autumn Period. The change of bronze ware styles from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period was important in the development of ancient Chinese bronze wares. Due to the lack of archaeological data, research on pottery moulds during the two - week period was still insufficient; discussion of the important issue of standardizing the sources of raw materials was also relatively weak. Environmental archaeology has relatively mature methods and practices in depositional dynamics, depositional processes and provenance tracing, which could provide new ideas for further in - depth discussions on this issue. In order to understand the material sources and craftsmanship of pottery moulds unearthed from Guanzhuang site in Xingyang, Henan Province, samples of Guanzhuang pottery moulds and natural sedimentary strata were studied using particle size analysis, XRF and petrographic analysis to give the following results. 1) The raw materials for mould - making were taken from the late Pleistocene Malan loess layer under the cultural layer of the site. The Malan loess underwent simple manual elutriation before being used to make pottery moulds. 2) A small amount of plant ash and calcium nodule powder was added during the production process of pottery moulds as an admixture to increase the high - temperature resistance. 3) The inner side of pottery mould for container was mainly made of Malan loess, while the outer one was made of a mixture of Malan loess and river sand with a blending ratio of about 7:5. Pottery moulds for various ware types had different processing techniques (e.g., moulds for containers were more refined). Besides, compared with early pottery moulds, later ones are relatively rougher, but the difference is not obvious. 4) The petrographic characteristics of double - layer container moulds indicate that there are different production processes for the inner and outer sides of mould. The inner side was made of Malan loess with finer particles—below 100 μm—as the raw material after elutriation, and there were traces of directional trimming. The outer one was made of a mixture of two parts of minerals (coarse and fine), and there was no obvious processing trace. Analysis of sample particle size is a new attempt to discuss the material sources of pottery moulds. The related discussion of mud - clarifying ponds is also helpful to understand the function of such relics and the formation process of accumulation in them. This study has important reference significance for exploring the material and craft characteristics of pottery moulds before and after the early Spring and Autumn Period in the Central Plains. © 2023, Sciences of Conservation and Archaeology. All Rights Reserved.