The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1878-04-30
-~THEssOUsEE0FsC COMMONS

tickets are often issued to I'LL their d.
minntive strangers gallery six times
over, and tickets, moreover, are govui
only for the day named thereon. A
ticket simply means this: that you may
visit the house of commons on a certain
day provided there happens to be room.
In spite of seeming difficulty in OBJ
tanning these tickets, they, nevertheless,
often come in strangely crooked ways
The everlasting fee, or tip, to officials, is
very potent in England, and a shilling or
two will often readily do what an infinite
amount of square work utterly fails to
accomplish. A few days ago friend
said to me that if wished to 60 with
him to the house of commons, he could
furnish me with a card. He had not
the cards then, he added, but should get
them on the following evening by meet
ing an indefinite third party, at Ger.
tain place, at exactly twenty minutes
past the hour of seven. At the appoint
ed hour, and prompt to the minute, as
we waited in the lig ht of solitary gas
lamp, near the houses of parliament, q
minor official met us, and handed over
two tickets duly signed by members. A
two shilling piece slipped into his hands
settled our debt, at least in its CONNER
cial bearing. He is employed about the
house, and members doubtless write out
tickets at his request, and he, thereupon,
speculates in small way upon them.
Had we applied to the members directly
we should have been less apt to obtain
cards of admission than by this interme-
diary process which we employed. Then
we took our places in the entrance room,
in line, and waited our turn. After
waiting an hour we we're admitted, sew
eral who were but little in advance of
us had been waiting three hours before
their turns came.
The hall of the house of commons is
deliberately finished, but is small in COM
parison with the halls Of our congress.
1t looks to me like a good-sized bandbox.
The length is rs feet; width, As feet;
height, Al feet. The strangers gallery,
which is at one end, seats rather less than
eighty persons, and the diplomatic gal
lery, just in front of it, rather less than
fifty. The eighty, seats mentioned are
all that are available by members tick
cts. It was evidently never intended
that the general public should largely
visit the house of commons. The men,
bers' seats are long, cushioned lounges,
all facing the centre, and without desks
"a very unhandy arrangement for leg
islative purposes, I should say. The
part of the room TO the right of the
speaker is occupied by the ministerial
members, and the front seat, near the
speaker, by the ministers themselves.
To the left of the speaker are the oppo-
sition members, and the leaders of the
opposition occupy the front seat on that
side. Hero get the Marquis Of Harting-
ton and John Bright on that evening.
A large part of the members kept their
hats on; the ministers present all wore
their hats in the room. The size Of the
hall Of the house does not make it neces-
sary that members should speak in loud
tone of voice, and hence the habit Of
speaking in a merely conversational tone
is very general. The room is lit with
gas, but no flame is visible. The light
comes in from above, and might almost
be supposed to be sunlight.
One feature connected with the house
of commons is so utterly ridiculous that
it deserves only to be laughed at. When
l had been in the room some fifteen min
utes, my companion asked me whether
l saw any ladies present. I said no; but
he informed me that thirty or forty
ladies were nevertheless listening to the
debate that was then going on. lie then
called my attention to a continuance at
the opposite end which he termed the
cage" and in which were quite num-
Der of ladies. That end Of the room,
just above the reporters gallery, has a
number Of windows, and these are filled
with a kind of network of iron, and back
of these is the ladies gallery. They are
distinctly outside the hall itself, and can
only look in through this iron grating.
Exceptions may sometimes be made in
the case of ladies of title, but, generally
speaking, no ladies are admitted while
the house is in session.
In broad contrast with the custom of
our American congress are the times of
the beginning and close of the annual
sessions of parliament and Of the daily
meetings of the two houses. The parlia'
ment is usually called together early in
February, and sits until about August
II. The daily meetings of the house OF
lords begin at S P. M, and usually last
but about two hours; the house of COM
mons meets at 4 p. NJ, and usually sits
till past midnight. The rules of the
house seem to assume that no member
can wilfully or unreasonably obstruct
its business or misuse its rules, and any
member who chooses may obstruct the
business to degree that would not be
tolerated in any other deliberative
assembly. The previous question is a
form not used by the house of commons.
fla mere handful of members wish to do
50, they may occupy the entire time Of
the house for many whole sittings in sue.
cession. The case of the Irish obstruc.
tives at the close of the last session is a
case in point. 1t is a noteworthy fact
that the present speaker of the house is a
member of the liberal minority, though
the custom is to select that officer from
the dominant party.
Members receive no pay, and hence
must usually be men of Independent for,
tunes. In some cases, however. constiu.
encies make up purses for their mem
bers if their means happen to be small.
Nominally the house consists Of 65e
members, thus distributed: England and
Wales, 1893; Scotland, 60, and Ireland,
105. Four boroughs, however, with six
seats, have been disfranchised, and the
writ for Norwich has been suspended, 60
that the house really consists of $50
members. Members are divided into
two general classes, known as borough
and county members. The Oxford,
Cambridge, London, Edinburgh, Dublin,
and some other universities, are also en-
titled to members. Each Of the first
two named has two members, Bank.