§ The Clerk read the List of Members who have claimed to be excused from serving on Election Committees as being upwards of sixty years of age:
§ Also of the various Members of the Government who claim to be excused on the ground that their attendance would be inconvenient to the public service.
§ On the Question that Sir CHARLES WOOD be excused from serving on Committees,
§ MR. DISRAELIsaid, he did not, of course, rise to oppose the Motion; but he could not avoid saying that the rule by which hon. Members over sixty years of age were excused from serving on Committees required some modification. It had the effect of depriving them of the assistance of many hon. Gentlemen who were quite capable of taking part in the business of the House. Amongst the list read over by the clerk at the table were many Gentlemen who by their mature judgment were fully competent to render great assistance on Committees. To his astonishment he had heard read over the names of more than one hon. Member who had just entered the House, and one of whom had been returned as the representative of a large and important constituency. Those hon. Members were about commencing their public life, and this rule of the House stated that they were incompetent to fulfil all the duties that were thrown upon them. He wished to enter his protest against the present state of the law, but as it was the law of course more than a suggestion could be made. It was a 398 subject which ought to engage the attention of the House, and he hoped it would come before the Committee which the House had recently appointed, with respect to the business of the House. That Committee ought to take the whole matter into their consideration.
§ Motion agreed to.