The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1878-05-17
THE COMMONS.
DESCRIPTION OF THE LOWER HOUSE OF
THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. A
London Correspondence New York Sun.

London orrespondence New York Sun.
1t is by no means. an easy matter to visit
the House of Commons. Admission is to be
had only by card from member, and even
the magic card itself is far from insuring
your admission, for enough tickets are often
issued to fill their diminutive strangers gal
lery six times over, and tickets, moreover
are good only for the day named thereon.
A ticket simply means this, that you may
visit the House of Commons on certain
day provided there happens to be room.
The hall of the House of Commons is
elaborately f1nished, but is small in compar-
ison with the halls of our Congress. 1t
looks to me like good-sized band-box.
The length is seventy five fest width, forty
five feet, and height, fourteen feet. The
strangers gallery, which is at one end,
seats rather less than eighty persons, and
the diplomatic gallery, which is just in front
of it, rather less than fifty. The eighty
seats mentioned are all that are available by
members tickets. 1t was evidently intend
ed that the general public should not largely
visit the House of Commons. The men,
bers' seats are long, cushioned lounges, all
facing the center, and without desks-a
very unhandy arrangement for legislative
purposes, 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 Opposition members, and the leaders of
the Opposition occupy the front seat on that
side. Here sat the Marquis of Harrington
and John Bright On that evening. A large
part of the members kept their hats on; tie
Ministers present all wore their hats in the
room. The size of the ball of the House
does not make it necessary 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 fame is visible.
The light comes in from above, and might
almost be supposed to be sunlight.
In broad contrast with the custom of our
American Congress are the times of the be-
ginning and close of the annual sessions of
Parliament and of the daily meetings of the
two Houses. The Parliament is usually
called together early in February and sits
until about August 70. The daily meetings
of the House of Lords begin at S p. m. and
usually last about two hours the House of
Commons meets at p. m. and usually sits
till past midnight. The rules of the House
seem to assume that no member can will
fully or unreasonable obstruct its business
Or misuse it's rules, and any member who
chooses may obstruct the business to de-
gree that would not be tolerated in any
-LlI Il i.It. >~----Iin III ---~--n-.n
question is form not used by tho Ho~so
of Commons.
Members receive no pay, and hence most
usually are men of independent fortunes.
In some cases however, constituencies make
up purses for their members if their means
happen to be small. Nominally the House |
consists of 658 members, thus distributed
England and Wales, 493 Scotland, so; and
Ireland, 105, Four boroughs, however,
with six seats, have been DISTINGUISHED, and
the writ for Norwich has been suspended,
SO that the House really consists of 600
members. Members are divided into two
general classes, known as borough and
county members. The Oxford, Cambridge, |
London, Edinburgh, Dublin and other uai-
versities are also entitled to members.
Each of the first two named has two mem
bers. Bankrupts are not eligible for elec-
ton to the Honse of Commons
Members may represent other boroughs
or counties than those in which they reside.
This is very important provision. In the |
United States if a man belongs to the party
which is in the minority in his own district,
he has no hope of election to Congress. |
Eminent services are thus frequently lost
to the country. Here. ON the contrary, if
John Bright should fail Of election in one
locality, he is available as candidate for
the first vacancy that occurs anywhere In
the kingdom. The effect is, that a man
who has given distinguished services in |
Parliament is rarely allowed to remain
without seat in that body during the re-
mainder of his active life. While the Brit |
ish House of Commons is by no means
wholly made up of able men, it seldom per-
manently loses such men as Bright and |
Gladstone, after they have once proven