§ MR. HUMEwished to ask the Speaker a question for the information of the House as to the adjournments at the Wednesday sittings. During the last Session and the present, an order of the House directed the Speaker to leave the chair exactly as the clock struck six, without any Motion of adjournment; after that hour no Member was allowed to address the House. Now, he understood that on Wednesday last a report was made to the House after six o'clock; the matter ought to be clearly understood, because if they could deviate from the rule by five minutes, there was no reason why they should not by fifty. The time for the adjournment might unfortunately arrive in the middle of a division; and the question was, what the rule should be?
§ MR. SPEAKERThe hon. Member is quite right in stating it to be the rule of the House, that the Speaker shall leave the chair at six o'clock without any question being put; but the adjournment cannot take place during a division, as at that time the doors of the House are locked, and cannot be opened till the Speaker has been 250 reported in the chair. Therefore it is necessary for the numbers of the division to be reported to me before I can obey the order of the House.