§ COLONEL LONG (Worcester, Evesham)In asking, Sir, for your ruling upon the following point I may perhaps be permitted to say that I do not in any way wish to inconvenience anybody, but my sole desire is to have a Rule of the House either removed from the books or observed. Under the Rules, Orders, and Forms of Procedure which you, Sir, laid on the Table of this House in 1896, there is a Rule—No. 50—the last part of which provides that—
A Member who remains within the precincts of the House may, by placing his hat upon a seat, indicate his intention of acquiring a right to such seat by subsequent attendance at prayers.Mr. Speaker Peel in February 1895, in consequence of his attention being drawn to certain cases in which Members had caught cold while walking about the lobby without their hats, permitted the present system of cards to take the place of the old system. The result is that during the present Parliament a very strong opinion has grown up that a Member having placed his card on a sent can leave the House—that in fact this particular Rule has become obsolete. This is no doubt very convenient to those Members who live near the House. They place their cards on the seats in the morning, and then leave to attend to 558 their business, but not so advantageous to Members who live, at a distance, and who, coming down to the House, perhaps, about one or two o'clock, wishing to ask a question or speak, rind the seats appropriated by these cards, without even the satisfaction of finding their friends in the lobbies to talk to. I wish to know, therefore, whether, in your opinion, the system of cards has had the effect of rendering Rule 50 obsolete, or whether when a Member places his card on the seat he is not bound by an honourable understanding to remain within the precincts of the House. If, Sir, your decision is that this Rule applies to the placing of the cards, I will respectfully ask whether it will not be possible when the Rules are reprinted to embody your decision in the wording of Rule 50.
§ MR. SPEAKERSubject to what was said by my predecessor in 1895, this rule still represents accurately the rule of the House, and I do not understand that the decision of my predecessor did more than insert the words "or card" after the word "hat," leaving the rest of the rule in force. Therefore I take it that, as in the case of a hat so with a card left on the seat, the action of the honourable Member who places it there is inoperative unless he remains within the precincts of the House.
§ MR. TOMLINSONWould it not be desirable to have some such statement printed on the card?
§ MR. SPEAKERI hardly think that is necessary. I think honourable Members will now understand what the rule of the House is.