§ MR. MACFIEasked the First Commissioner of Works, If he will be good enough to set apart some convenient place in the Palace of Westminster where Members may sign Letters brought them by their secretaries or clerks for signature, and dictate to them Letters on business concerning the constituencies?
§ MR. AYRTONsaid, in reply, that under the new arrangements for the House a room was provided in the gallery of St. Stephen's Cloister to enable hon. Members to receive persons who might wish to see them on business, and he believed that that had met the general convenience of the House. Unfortunately it had been found that the room was used for business of a different kind, and it had become the duty of the Serjeant-at-Arms to take care that it was devoted to the purposes for which it was originally intended. His hon. Friend wished to have accommodation of a more extended character, which would enable Members to receive the assistance of a clerk or a secretary within that building. Now, if anything of that kind were attempted, it would be necessary to provide for the accommodation not merely of one or two Members like his hon. Friend, but perhaps of one or two hundred other Members; because whatever was done for the convenience of one Member must be done for the convenience of every other Member who desired. Therefore, large as that building was, it did not afford any room of sufficient size for such a purpose, although at some future time, when the new Courts of Justice were built, and the existing Courts at the other side of Westminster Hall were pulled down, Westminster Hall itself would then furnish the accommodation that his hon. Friend desired.