HC Deb 03 March 1879 vol 244 cc14-6
MR. ANDERSON

I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If he is aware that in the week ending on Friday morning Wednesday was the only day on which the House was not counted out; and that of the whole twelve sittings since the February meeting began, the sitting has come to its natural conclusion only three times besides the two Wednesdays, while it has been ended by a count out seven times, and of these only two were at a late hour? Here there seems to have been a paragraph accidentally left out. It was this:— Whether those counts have been gone-rally arranged, and were brought about by Members being induced to remain away? ["Order!"]

MR. SPEAKER

By my direction those expressions were struck out of the Questions of the hon. Member on the ground that they were not consistent with the Rules of the House.

MR. ANDERSON

Very well, Sir. I will therefore ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If he will consider the desirability of establishing the practice of Mr. Speaker, in announcing that notice had been called to the fact of less than 40 Members being present, should state by whom it was called, in order that the name of the Hon. Member may appear in the Journals of the House; and, if he has any remedy to propose?

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

Sir, I am perfectly aware that the House has been counted out very frequently this Session, and I regret that it should have been so. On the other hand, I must point out to the hon. Member for Glasgow that in many cases that arises from the exhaustion of the House at an advanced hour, when we have, perhaps, arrived at 1, or 2, or even later in the morning, and we have still a good deal of Business on the Paper which cannot be disposed of without considerable discussion; or from Members really finding themselves exhausted through having had a late night in the House the night before, and seeing that the remaining Business on the Paper is apparently not of much interest. Under such circumstances, hon. Members are often not willing to remain in the House. I regret that it should be so, because it is the interest of us all to economize the time of the House as much as possible; and as, in consequence of the Rule now adopted as to the Estimates on Monday, we may hope that the time of the Government may be economized, so we hope that hon. Members will take advantage of other days for bringing forward matters of real interest. As to the suggestion of the hon. Gentleman that the Speaker should name the Member who might take notice of there not being 40 Members present, that, I think, would be rather a questionable proceeding, although I have known Members who maintained, as our Friend (Mr. Collins) used to say, that it was quite right that notice should be taken of that fact, because important Business ought not to be proceeded with in a very thin House. There might be some objections to such a practice, unless it be adopted after a full discussion and by Resolution of the House. I do not think I have any other remedy to propose, except that Members should, as far as possible, endeavour to place on the Paper Business of a kind likely to gain the attention of the House, and consequently keep the Members in attendance.