Evening star., 1911-06-04

| from his own place-that Is. the place
chosen or secured by him for the day
Tor no member outside Of the ministry
has an assigned seat-and with no at
| tempt 1t oratory. It Is regarded a. bad
form to grow too earnest or excited.
Loud speaking is. well. you know, It Is
not exactly. well, really. 1t won't do.
don't you know! That's all there is to
/ 1t. They simply do not do II that way.
Every one knows that whatever a mem
Der says will be officially recorded. ana
II 1T is worth while several OF the morn
ing papers will print a full epitome or
need to shout. No one cares snap Tor
the galleries. Now and then member
has to talk for Buncombe county," but
few British legislators are put to the ex-
American representative in Congress to
bear his constituents in mind from the
day he is elected to the end OF his ca
reer.
Quick to Get Result.
A division" In commons has one
marked advantage over the voting proc
ess In the American House. 1t is brief.
In nine minutes the first one l witnessed
was concluded and the vote was an
nounced. The second took, I think. ten
minutes. and the third eight and a half
But the division lacks in picturesqueness,
and Furthermore 1t makes the place look
messy. Things come to sudden pause,
members begin to move about and grad
ually to disappear through doors behind
the chair. Presently the house is practi
cally deserted for a moment, and then
members reappear from the other end
Next come the tellers. four in number,
who bow to the chairman and hand forth
paper. which the chairman reads. Then
there is perhaps little cheering" and
the grind is resumed.
The speaker or the chairman of the
committee can take a member off the
floor if he becomes irrelevant or employs
improper language. He can, and often
does, deny recognition to member desir
ing to speak twice on the same motion.
full member can talk indefinitely. This,
however. is also bad FORM The chief
glory of the commons debates is the
brevity of the speeches and the speed
with which business Is transacted.
kangaroo cloture" would be Of great
service at home, even in the well regu
lated House.
l was grievously disappointed in that l
sa no member sit on his own hat when
resuming his seat after speaking. I am
told that this is quite the funniest thing
that ever happens in parliament, but 1t
was not for me to witness that side-Split-
ting incident in the life of legislative
body that Is said to be more keen for
fun than any other in the world. 1t may
be an aggregation of rare humorists. but
il so, it was not working on that line the
day attended.
The house of lords is unquestionably a
most dignifled assemblage 1 saw 1t at
a most auspicious time, on the day when
Lord Lansdowne introduced his reform
bill. reducing the house to a much small
er body of peers Of parliament" and
designed as a counter against the I'M
pending parliament bill. There was a
great outflow of peers. temporal and
spiritual. AS in the commons few days
before. every seat was occupied. The
spectators space was packed. The peer
ess' galleries were full. The commons
space was congested, and members Of
certain privileged classes stood about on
the floor behind the woolsack. on the
steps Of the throne. The peers were, of
course, In the conventional dress Of the
plain people. rather impressive for forid-
ity of complexion than for intellectual
quality. Yet. on the whole. the house
averaged up fairly well with the COM
mons,