The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-16 00:00:00

t4estoartnible araserver.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16th, 1879.

THE PARLIAMENTARY RECESS.

ENGLIND has been called a country of para-
d.oxes. It is considered by some as too eager
in its desire for progress ; while upon the
other hand there can be no question that in
some of its customs it is conservative in the
extreme, using the word of course in its non-
political sense. Nowhere is the last-men-
tioned characteristic more marked than in
the usages which govern the conduct of oar
public life. Some laws are changeless and
immutable ; they are like those of the :Vedas
and Persians—they alter not. The incon-
venience of their operation may be demon-
strated again and again; it is recognised by
general admission. Bat people go on in the
old beatc-n track, not caring to make a
change, some for one reason, others for an-
other, although believing that a change is re-
quired. This is especially manifest with
regard to the Parliamentary recess, which
is just commencing, and putting aside pos-
sible eventualities, is likely to continue for
the next six months.
It is taken for granted that there must be
a Parliamentary recess. The Legislature,
a:though spoken of as an impalpable body,
is really made up of substantial entities, the
forms of human beings. It is not a corn-

pound of clock-work- and steam, but it is
composed of men who require recreation
and rest after a period of exacting labour.
It is true there are some devotees of work
who see no reason why Parliament should
separate for the half of every year, and who
would have it at Westminster at least nine
months out of the twelve. The toiling mil-
lions of the people work all the year round,
and why not Parliament? Now, to begin
with, the thing is physically impossible.
Six months of the late hours of the House of
Commons are quite enough at a stretch, and
the health of hon. gentlemen who sit at
their duties from four in the afternoon until
two in the morning would not stand much
more. And in the next place even were a
longer session practicable, it is doubtful
whether more work would be done. The
longer the legislative year, the more oppor-
tunity for talk there would be; it must have
an end even as at present; and there would
be the same disposition to crowd most of the
work into its close as we now witness. But
supposing that Parliament, instead of talking
s I much, legislated more, and went on making
one new law after another for nine whole
months. We often hear a great deal of
harassed interests now; what should fir e hear
then? As every new law that is made must
affect some interest or class, Parliament
would :very soon hear the expression of a
desire for a little less of its activity. Be-
s des, although legislation is all very well in
its way in a country like this, many an in-
stitation has grown up in addition to that
of law-giving. Custom has prescribed cer-
tain dates for the commencement of grouse-
s_cof np.:, for the shooting of partridges, the
pursuing of hares, and the hunting of foxes,
and not all the important statutes in the
world would keep our law-makers in London
whilst these are going on. Again, the re-
cess is useful in other ways besides those of
such recreations. It transfers political life
from the capital to the provinces, enables
members of Parliament to meet their consti-
tuents, and gives the country an opportunity
ol! listening to instruc :ion in public affairs.
To concentrate all political interest into the
metropolis perpetually would be one of the
greatest mistakes which a great nation like
England could commit, The heart would
no longer be the centre of that national life
of which we are all so proud.
The Parliamentary recess is therefore an
institution of lithe less importance than the
session itself. In addition to the addresses
of peers and commoners in various parts of
the Kingdom, it witnesses the holding of
congresses upon all kinds of subjects, re-
ligions, social, political, and philosophical.
These gatherings have considerably multi-
plied during the past few years. Time was
when the British Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science was almost alone in
its autumnal tours; but now we have the
Social Scientists, Churchmen, Congrega-
tionalists, Baptists, Sanitary Reformers, and
a host of other earnest men placing their
views before the people at the time of the
falling leaf, and when Parliament is not sit-
ting. Indeed, the teaching and the infor-
mation diffused daring the recess, are of in-
caleulable value in many ways. Parliament
is an august and all-powerful body ; but it
has no wish to be a monopolist and its mem-
la..2rs have a due appreciation of the value of
the recess, and of the importance of the work
which is done when the Legislature is not in
eiession.