The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-02-26 00:00:00

Etc 3toutbribge Cutter

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!SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1887.

PROCEDURE.

THE political question of the hour is Pro-
eedare, and it is likely to remain the chief
topic for many long days to come. Lord
Salisbury, in his Foreign Office speech to the
leaders of the ConservatiTe party on Mon-
day, was unable to name a shorter time than
a month as likely to be occupied by the
discussion in the Commons of the new Rules
which the leader of the House has intro-
duced. Long before that the country will
be heartily sick of the whole business. It
is no pleasing sight to witness the first
assembly of gentlemen in Europe wrangling
for weeks over suggested methods for putting
a stop to their own irrelevant talk and to
enabling Parliament to turn its attention to
its proper work of legislation. But such is
the prospect to-day, and the same subject
has, in pa.st Parliaments, largely :eaten up
the time of the House. No one can, ho y‘
ever, say that some serious reforms in Pro-
cedure are not necessary, and if the pro.
tracted debate ends in the adoption of really
effective regulations, and puts an end kr
ever to the masifold opportunities for word.
wasting and tedisus conversation which now
obtain, Mr. Smith's introduction of the
matter, on its presert fitting, will certainly
be a service to the State. More than three
whole Parliamentary weeks were occupied
by a stream of chatter—most of it irrelevant
and not at all likely to lead to any practical
result concerning the Address to the
Throne. Now Procedure holds the floor
until further notice; next we shall have the
Budget and the Estimates, ova- which,
doubtless, members will spend as much time
U possible. 'After that, Ireland's case will
oome up for consideration, and who can say
then when the course will be clear for ether
pressing matters? .Business must, without
further delay, be expedited, or the country
will rise in wrath. No one desires to place
a bar in the way of the free and full discus-
" al of proposal a for legislation; but every
sensible man objects to the endless fighting
of party battles on the floor of the House of
Commons, to the ceaseless speechiffng and
uttering of the old stereotyped platform
platitudes, to the oratorical struggling of
person with person for personal ends. Men
will, of course, have different views as to the
business before the House and will express
them; but if all were unanimous in the
desire to deal promptly with measures upon
their merits, and set themselves to conquer
she apparently consuming desire to talk for
talking's sake, quite regardless of the fact
that everything they are saying has been
said—and haply said better before, ques.
tions would be disposed of with a rapidity
which would be, by comparison, most
frothing. Liberty of speech is precious to
Englielunen, and nowhere more so than in
tl e High Court of Parliament; but when
t' at liberty degenerates into license, we
ave an intolerable evil. Freedom is not
I (amid when irrelevance is sternly and
swiftly repressed; on the contrary, it is &s-
-livered from unsightly hindrance. When
a r.calcitrant obstructionist complains that
the Speaker's application of the Cloture is a
trespass upon his right and privilege he
takes up a false position. The stoppage of
an unseemly interruption in any public
meeting is certainly a repression of free
speech, but it is most expedient and justifi-
able, and indeed necessary, in order that the
broad current of free utterance may run on
without impediment. The way must be
kept clear if debate is not to be hampered
and blocked, and the Procedure Rules, as
aiming at compassing such a desideratum,
ought to have the highest consideration.
When a question has had adequate discussion
ia the House, it should at once be "put,"
and the Speaker, or others in responsible
positions ought to be invested with inalien-
able p)wer to put a period to argument, for
argumsnt's sake, over every exhausted ques
tion, long before repetition has become
odious and tiresome. To prevent re-discus-
sion, a well-considered programme should be
prepared for every session, leavinct as many
blanks as experience should prove requisite
for the consideration of questions cropping
up after the time of Parliament had been
apportioned. This programme should be
drawn up with the concurrence of the whole
Elouse, and its provisions should he bindinct
on every member. With prudent precaution
the Whips and party wire pullers were not
:sermitted to stuff the notice papers with
!notions on every conceivable object, and so
altogether defeat private members from
..aising discussion as regards important cur-
rent matters. Mr. Brand's ruling, upheld
.•y the present Speaker, that questions sLull
lot be debated in antteipati, n o: any motion
Arcady arranged for, .is good a d effec!i.-e,
•tud might be continued in pe• petuity w:th
freat advantage. Some of the ParLament-
.Lry chiefs are great sinners in tie matter 0
• ime.wasting. Naturally their every remar
listened to with interest by those who
lollow them; and, availing themselves of the
charter their position gives, not a few of
• !rem semorselessly talk on, quote elega
soetry, make pretty epigrams, haul in by
be ears more or less irrelevant puns, and go
orating for an hour or two, and even
ruore, when conciseness might with advant-
qe have been aimed at. Loving to minister
their own importance by keeping posses-
on of the floor long and frequently, they
;Elite forget the wholesome, but now sadly
tisse:sarded, aphorism about brevity being
,„,.s.l of wit. And when we find the cap-
p.ech thus retrograding, how can
der it the rank and tile attempt to
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