CAPTAIN AYLMERasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, seeing that the chamber in which the House of Commons sits is constructed to seat only half the number of Members, he con- 768 templates proposing the erection of another chamber capable of seating all the Members, so that in the event of the 1st Resolution becoming Law, Mr. Speaker may be able to take the evident sense of the whole House and not of a part thereof?
MR. GLADSTONESir, if an opinion had been framed by any impartial spectator of the capacity of this House to accommodate its Members from the observation of the attendance during the recent important debates, undoubtedly he would have been disposed to say, not so much that the House required to be enlarged, as that it admitted of being contracted. This is a subject which cannot be dealt with in an answer to a Question. It was a subject of considerable and serious discussion in this House about 12 years ago, and there is, no doubt, a great deal to be said upon it. At the same time, however, I must say that we have not arrived at the conclusion that another Chamber is necessary and ought to be built.