The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-16
THE KINGS REPORTER.
Survival of an Old Custom I'm the
House of Commons.

CuEt1NAh VI IN OAst GuStVAN Ah tAaC
House of Commons.
From London Tit Bits.
At IL o'clock on nights when the
House of Commons is sitting Mr. Bal
four, If he be not already in the cham
Der, saupters in, takes quarto sheet
of note paper with the official crest of
the House from the table and a blot
ting pad, seats himself on the Treas
ury bench, produces from his waist
coat pocket a fountain pen attached to
his gold tandem watch chain and de-
votes the hour or SO that remains be-
fore the adjournment of the House 10
the writing of letter. Though rev
are aware of it, this letter is an ac-
count of the nights proceedings in the
House, which the leader of the House
sends to the King.
1t will be asked why should the
leader OF the House of Commons write
for the King a nightly report OF the
doings of the House? Is it not, in view
of the reports published in the morn
ing newspapers, a sheer work of super
erogation? The King, no doubt READS
the Times. In that journal his MAJ
esty often finds as many as ten or
twelve columns Allied with the proceed
night before. Surely such q report
ought to satisfy even the most vora-
cious appetite for intelligence of the
i savings and doings of the representa-
! tive chamber. In truth, the writing OF
| that nightly report by the leader of
| the House for the sovereign is one of
many illustrations of the tenaeity with
which Parliament clings to forms ana
ceremonies which have come down
4 a how
remote they may have been made from
| the realities of the present day by the
revolutions accomplished by time.
We have to go back to the early
years of the reign of George III for the
| origin of the sending of this nightly
| report of the proceedings Of the House
| of Commons to the sovereign AT that
| time it was useless to go to the news
papers for information about Parha-
ment. An editor ran the risk OF being
heavily fined or imprisoned If he at
tempted to give the people, through MS
columns, the slightest information as
to what their representatives were DO
ing OF saying in the House of Commons
At the slime time, although according
to the theory of the Constitution the
sovereign presides over the deliber-
atoms of Parliament, the actual pres
enee of the sovereign in the House OF
Lords, save on ceremonial occasions,
such as the opening of the session, or
in the House OF Commons at any tlIne'
would be regarded as unconstitutional.
Queen Victoria, for Instance, was
never in the House Of Commons during
the whole course of her long reign OF
GO years.
Rut George III determined that he
should be kept informed in some FASH
ion of the proceedings Of the House OF
Commons. He therefore COMMANDED
Lord North, the prime minister or the
time and the leader of the House or
Commons, to send him report nightly,
aud North. being a subservient courtier,
compiled, despite the regulation which
Parliament enacted years before, IN
the times OF the SNIart kings. that in
order to guard against the arbitrary
interference of the crown In its pro-
ceedings the sovereign should neither
hear its debates nor give credit to re-
ports Of them. Since that time The
custom has been continued.
In the library at buckingham Palace
are ali the reports, bound in volumes,
which Queen Victoria received from
the leaders Of the House of Commons
during her reign. The writer's of these
reports were great parliamentarlan
and statesmen-Lord John Russell, Sir
Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, Disrae-
Ii, Sir Stafford Northcote, Gladstone,
Lord Randolph Churchill, w. II. Smith.
Sir William Harcourt and A. ]. Bal
four-and they contain, no doubt,
graphic descriptions of many memora-
Bile scenes in the house from the pens
of the leading actors in those scenes.
In 1879 the sending of these reports
to the sovereign was brought under
the notice Of the house by Mr.. Leonard
Courtney, who contended that, being Q
violation of the old law Of Parliament,
they were unconstitutional. But Mr..
Gladstone, who was then leader OF the
Opposition, ridiculed the contention. He
truly said that the house might fairly
object to the details of It's proceedings
being conveyed to the sovereign at
period when the people were debarred
from receiving any information about
4he doings Of Parliament. but 1t was
nonsensical and ridiculous to say 1t
was an offense to communicate the pro-
ceedings of the house to the sovereign
at a time when they were published
broadcast by every newspaper In the
kingdom.
MIR. Gladstone used to write his re-
ports on the treasury bench. toward the
close of the sitting He would pro-
vide himself with quarto sheet of
note paper and plotting pad. seize the
nearest Quill pen TO hand on the table,
and. writing on his knee. dash on the
report with characteristic eagerness
aud CELEBRITY. Scratch. scratch, scratch!
went his pen ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS inter-
rupted 10 receive a report from his
chief whip or to exchange a few words
With a colleague I'm the minlstry-untll
the four sides Of the sheet Of note
paper We're covered.
Mr. Balfour exercised more delibera-
ton In the discharge Of his duty AZ the
Kings parliamentary reporter. Be
ginning IN the usual form-tMr. Bal