The Osceola times., 1881-10-08
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The Disadvantages Under which 1t Labors
The Urgency" Method OF Stop
p'ng - ,ate.


the NindeGM Contry on the dead lock
in the House of Commons" The disad.
vautaces which that body labors under
in the ,rrduct Of its business are such as
TO imperatively demand a reform. In
the first place, the amount Of work It is
called upon TO perform is much greater
than that Of any other legislative body
in the world. In the second place the
methods of performing it are much more
cumbersome than those of any other leg
islature. There is no other legislative
body that possesses such full powers.
Mr.. Harrison writes; I'm the course OF
centuries e ;ery thing in the working of
the complex machinery of this nation
has become concentrated in, or absorbed
into. the House of Commons. The
House has, in fact, become the most gi-
gantic and heterogeneous bureau that the
world ever saw" The House is called
upon to take note of everything that
goes on within the empire, from the
granting of turnpike franchise TO an
Irish land bill. Under the most expedi-
tlous circumstances no one body could
be expected to attend to such mass of
business. Under the circumstances that
exist it is difficult for it 10 accomplish
anything at all.
In the House of Commons there is no
division of labor among regular commit
tees. A committee Of the whole sits on
every bill that is brought M. The mi
nutest details OF administrative organi.
cation, jumbled up in a seething mass
with the essential principles, have all
been crammed on TO the table of an in.
organic crowd Of men, whose course of
procedure, rules and general constitution
invite the maximum of delay, waste of
time, idle garruity and wanton obstruc.
ton" The result is that an important
bill like the land bill can be halted at a
hundred different points, and be made to
occupy whole session, to the de,riment
OF other and necessary business. Such
has Just been the case. II would have
been within the power Of the obstruc-
tionists TO have kept the bill from vote
still if the urgency" innovation had not
been adopted, and this was met with a
loud cry of revolution. Imagine the
Congress Of the United States weighed
down with the cares of the several State
Legislatures in addition TO its own, with
no means Of dividing its work up among
committees and with no mode of stop.
ping iilibustering and picture is pre-
sented of the load the British House of
Commons is staggering under.
The urgency" method of stopping de-
bate is Ineffective unless there il very
large majority 10 support the Speaker. A
respectable minority can still staye off
vote indefinitely. Urgency" prevailed
during the last session because both the
Liberals and the Conservatives were
united against the Irish members, and
the majority was overwhelming. In no
particular is British conservatism so
pointed and, in fact, ridiculous rs it is in
the methods Of conducting business in
the House Of Commons. Very little can
be done, simply because there is no pow
er TO refer anything to committees or to
close discussions. Mr.. Harrison says
$50 long as the power of discussion and
the consideration of technical amend
ments in full house remain unlimited, 70
long it will be in the power of very
small party to make the passing of any
big measure which excites public feeling
ing mere question Of physical endur-
ance"
But not only in these respects is a
change demanded. Some of the powers
now exercised by the House of Com
mons must be delegated to other author
ities. 1t is out of the question for it to
properly attend to the matters of detail
that come up before it. The reviewer
writes But it is real insanity now To
call up 1000 noblemen and gentlemen to
sit for seven or eight months at West
minister, and ask them TO settle laby.
rinthine schemes to regulate the traffic
of every road, the Cruel in every poor
house, the twigs in every schoolmaster's
birch, the boundaries in every common,
and the pay of every doorkeeper in the
whole Imperial service 1t issimply an
impossibility to properly attend TO these
small matters, and great many larger
ones, and, 80, much needed local legisla-
ton can not be obtained Another
practice which takes M much of the
valuable time of the Commons results
from the privilege every member has Of
interrogating the Ministers of the crown
respecting any point whatever in mat
ters of governmental policy or action. A
speech upon any kind Of grievance and
asking for redress is at all times permis-
sbe. The other day the question was
asked a. to whether a particular plane
sparrow is to fatten the face Of the earth
but the omniscience of Parliament shall
ask A question about its fate. Ministers
are expected to supply the inquiring
minds of the Commons with disquisitions
on botany, entomology and physics, the
milkiness of the Cocoanut in the Wind
ward Islands. the rainfall Of the Sahara.
the ravages of the wine worm and the
best antidote against the potato bug
To bring some kind of order out OF
this chaos, by systematizing the work,
by defeating powers to other authorities
i'm minor matters, by putting an end to
obstruction, by limiting the right of in
terpellation TO proper subjects and times,
and, in short, by applying modern I'M
provements to the process of British leg
islation, is the object which number Of
Englishmen have very much at heart.
The necessity for some such reforms is
apparently pressing. 1t is even claimed
that, without the presence of Mr.. Glad
stone, legislrtion now would be all but
impossible. Mr.. Harrison says; "Were
it not that we have at the head
of the Government the greatest
member of the Parliament whom our
generation has known, these evils would
have long been moderated. No
living statesman could bend that tre-
mendous bow when Ulysses shall lay it
down."
How the Anclents Conducted their Eleo-