The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1878-05-07
THE COMHONS.
A Description Of the Lower House OF
the British Parliam,ent.

CLom3on Correspondence Ne,o York S'U,.l
1t is by no means an easy matter
to visit tho House Of Commons.
Admission is to be had only by card
from q member, and even the magic
card itself is far from insuriny your
admission, for enough tickets are
often issued to fill their diminuiive
strangers gallery six times over,
and tickets, moreover, arc good
only for tho day named thereon. a
ticket simply means this, that you
may visit tho House Of Commons
on u certain day provided there
happens to be room.
Tho hall of the House Of Com
mons is elaboratcly finished, but is
small in comparison with the halls
Of our Congress. It looks to me
like good>sizod band box. The
length is sovonty- five feet; width,
fo,ty-iivc feet, md 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 aro al that
arc available by members tickets
1t WAS evidently never intended
that the general public should
largely visit the House of Commons.
The members seats arc long cush--
ioned lounges, all facing the center,
and without (lcsks--lt very unhandy
arrangement for Legislative pur.,
poses, [ should say. Thc part Of
tho room to tho right Of the Speak
Ell is occupied by tho Ministerial
members, and the front scat, near
the Speaker, by the Ministers thon~
selves. To the left of the Speaker
arc Opposition members, and the
leaders of the Opposition occupy
the front seat on that side Here
sat tho Marquis Of harrington anI
John Bright on that evening. A
large part of tho mcmbors kept
their hats on; tho Ministers pres
ent all wore their hats in The room.
The sizo of tho hall Of tho House
does not make it necessary that
members should speak in u loud
tone Of voice, and hence the habit
Of speaking i'll u merely convoien~
tional 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 sup,
posed to be sunlight.
I'm broad contrast with the custom
of our American Congress arc the
times Of tho beginning 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 L. The daily meetings Of
the House Of Lords begin at pm.
and usually last about two hours; tho
House ofCommons meets ut 4 p. N.
and sits till past midnight. The
rules Of tho House seem to assume
that no momber can willfully or
unreasonably obstruct its business
or misuse it's rules, and any Nom
ber who chooses may obstruct the
business to q degree that would
not DO tolerated in any other do~
berative assembly. The previous
question is a form not used by the
House Of Commons.
Members receive no pay, and
hence most usually aro men oI
independent fortunes. In some
cases, however, constituencies make
up purses for their members if theil
means happen to be small. Nomi
4 nally the House consists of G5S
members, thus ditribuod; England
AZ q Wales, 403; Scotland, 60; and
Ireland, l05 -Four boroughs, how.
ever, with six seats, have been
disfranchised, and tho writ 70,
Norwich has been suspended, sc
" that. tho House really consists Of
750 members. Mombcrs are divid,
8 cd intostwo; general classes, knowr
4 as borough. and county members
M TIE Oxford cambridge, 4 London
Edinburgh, Dublin and Other
universities are also !, entitled V tc
members. Each of thel first 4 r tWc
named hos two nlemborss Bank
4 rupts ore not eli ibl al Tor eotioI
81 s t tie of