The Russellville Democrat., 1881-09-29
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The Disadvantages Under Which it Labors The Urgency" Method of Stop
 nluE D ate.

inc NinttEalh CfuftrU on the "Dead-lock iu inc House Of Commons" The disad- vantaEes which that body labors under in th6 ,vujGut ot it's business are such as to imperatiyely demand 6 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 1t are much more cumbersome than those of any other leg islature. There is no other legislative body that possesses such fall powers. MT. Harrison writes. "In 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- gautiC and heterogeneous bureau that the world ever saw" The House is called upon 10 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 10 such a mass Ot business. Under the circumstances that exist it Is difficult for 1t to accomplish anything at all
 In the House of Commons there is no s'-+.44 Nit ssh'''l dAJ44e tlltAl tees. \ committee of the whole sits on every bill that is brought up. The mi nutest details oi administrative organi. zation. lumbied up in a seething mass with the essential principles, have all been Crammed on to the table of an in organic crowd ot men. whose course of procedure, rules and general constitution invite the maximum of delay, waste oi time. idle garrulity and wanton obstrUc- tion.' The result IS that an important bill like the land bill can be halted at 8 hundred different points. and be made to occupy a whole session, to the detriment of other and necessary business. Such has just been the case. IL would have been within the power Of the obstruc- tionlsts to have kept the bill from a vote still if the urgency" innovation had not been adopted, and this was met with 6 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 tijbustering and picture Is pre- scented of the load the British House of Commons is staggering under.
 The urgency method of stopping de bate Is ineffective unless there Is very large majority 10 support the Speaker. 4 respectable minority can still stave of 8 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 ss il Is in the methods of conducting business in the House of Commons. Very little can be done, simply because there is no pow CT to refer anything to committees or 10 close discussions. MT. Harrison says, "So long as the power of discussion and the consideration of technical amend ments in full house remain unlimited so long it will be in the power of 8 very small party to make the passing of any big measure which excites public feeling ing 8 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 Con- mons must be delegated to other author ities. It Is out of the question for it to properly ate nj to the matters of detail that come up before Il. The reviewer writes: But 1t is real insanity nov to call up 900 noblemen and gentlemen 10 sit for seven or eight months st West minister, and ask them to settle labv- rinthine schemes to regulate the traffic of every load, the gruel in every poor kouse, the twigs in every schOolmAs.er's birch, the boundaries in every common, and the pay of every doorkeeper in the whole Imperial service" It issimply ar impossibility 10 properly attend to these small matters, and great many larger
 . i. N4,-1N L. q ton can not be obtained. Another practice which takes ID much of the valuable time of the Commons results from the privilege every member has of interrogating the Ministers Of ths crown respecting any point whatever in mat ters of governmental policy or action. 4 speech upon any kind of gTieyeanee and asking for redress is at all times permis- sible The other day the question WAS asked as 10 Whether particular plane tree was going to be cut down. Not sparrow is to fatten the face of the earth but the Omuiscience of Parliament shall ask 6 question about its fate. Ministers are expected to supply the in9uiring minds of the Commons with disQuisltions on botany. entomology and physics the milkiness of the Cocoanut in the Wind ward Islands. the rainfall of the Sahara, the EaNaEeS or the wine NuTM ana the best antidote against the potato bug
 To bring some kind of order out of this chaos by systematizing the work, by deleEatng powers to other authorities in minor matters, by putting an end 10 obstruction, by limiting the right of in- terpellaGon 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 al heart, The necessity for some such reforms IS apparently pressing, IL is even claimed that. without the presence Of Mir. GlaG- stone, legislui0u now would be aN but impossib NIT. Harrison says; Were it not that we have at the head oi 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 Ancients Conducted their Flee
 tions.