HC Deb 27 June 1879 vol 247 cc840-1
MR. NEWDEGATE

said, he desired to put a Question to Mr. Speaker, as the chief authority in the House, on a matter of Order, with reference to what occurred yesterday when the hon. Member for Mayo (Mr. O'Connor Power), who had moved the adjournment of the House, proposed to withdraw that Motion. He had suffered, in common with other Members, from the confusion which at that time prevailed in the House. And, feeling that an important question of Order was involved in the subject, which he had submitted in a letter to the Speaker, he would, with the permission of the House, read the letter which he had ventured to address to that authority. [" Order! "]

MR. SPEAKER

, here interposing, pointed out to the hon. Member that a reference to the proceedings which occurred in the House yesterday was not, strictly speaking, in Order. But if the hon. Member desired to put any Question to him on a point of Order, without any such special reference, he would have no objection to answer it.

MR. NEWDEGATE

thereupon said he would simply ask two Questions, for his own sake and for the information of other hon. Members. The first of his Questions was, whether when a Motion for the adjournment of the House, or any other substantive Motion, had been put from the Chair, and had thus become a Question in possession of the House, such Question could be withdrawn from the possession of the House otherwise than by a Motion proposed and put as a Question from the Chair? His second Question was, whether a proposal to withdraw a Question from the possession of the House ought not to be made by way of Motion, and to be put from the Chair, as a Question to be decided by the House in the usual manner?

MR. SPEAKER

, in reply, had to say that when a Question had been once put from the Chair it could not be withdrawn from the judgment of the House except with the general consent of the House; and the general consent of the House was obtained in the usual manner, as the House was aware, by the proposition made from the Chair, expressed in the words, "Is it your pleasure that this Motion be withdrawn? " If any dissentient voice reached the Chair in opposition to the withdrawal of that Motion, it could not be so withdrawn; but the Question must be put and decided upon in the usual manner by the House.