§ Standing Order No. 2 read as followeth—
§ "That the House do meet every Wednesday, at twelve o'clock at noon, for private business, petitions, Orders of the day, and notices of Motions, and do continue to sit until six o'clock, unless previously adjourned."
§
Amendment proposed—
In line 1, to leave out the word 'Wednesday, and insert the word 'Friday.'"—(Mr. A. J. Balfour.)
§ Question proposed, "That the word 'Wednesday' stand part of the Standing Order."
*(5.5.) MR. GIBSON BOWLESpresumed he would be in order in raising the whole question of the merits of Friday as a day for sitting, and as to whether it should be a long or a short sitting.
§ * MR. SPEAKERpointed out that the Standing Order provided for a short sitting on a certain day, and that certain business should be taken at that sitting. The question was whether Friday should be substituted for Wednesday. The hon. Member would be at liberty to propose either Saturday or Sunday instead, but that seemed to be all he could do.
§ * MR. SPEAKERreminded the hon. Member that the House had decided that on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday there should be long day sittings. The Standing Order under discussion provided for a day in the week on which the House should meet at twelve o'clock and certain business have precedence. The only Amendment the Government proposed was that Friday should be substituted for Wednesday, and the only question was whether the day on which the House should meet at noon should be Wednesday or Friday.
* MR. GIBSON BOWLESwas afraid the question was even more restricted since the House had already decided that Wednesday should be a long day.
§ * MR. SPEAKERsaid that was the reason he had suggested the only course open to the hon. Member was to move the substitution of Saturday or Sunday.
* MR. GIBSON BOWLESdid not propose to suggest either Saturday or Sunday; he simply desired to show that Friday was a bad day on which to meet at twelve o'clock for private business.
§ * MR. SPEAKERsaid in that case the hon. Member's observations would come in better on the Question "That 'Friday' be there inserted."
§ Question put and negatived.
§ Question proposed, "That the word 'Friday' be there inserted."
* MR. GIBSON BOWLEScontended that Friday was a bad day for a morning sitting day, and that it ought to be kept either as at present, or as an afternoon and evening sitting day. The Government had taken from him Wednesday as a day of rest in the middle of a laborious week—a day on which he could recover from Monday and Tuesday, and prepare for Thursday and Friday. [A laugh.] Hon. Members who smiled probably did not know what it was to fight a Finance Bill day after day, and week after week. To those who did the work entailed by such a task, the Wednesday holiday was very important. That rest, however, had been taken from him, and it was proposed to satisfy him with this mess of pottage—this Friday as a morning sitting. But he did not want Friday as a half holiday; it was of absolutely no use. In fact, he preferred that Friday should be a full Parliamentary day, since it was followed by Saturday and Sunday, on which he could rest. The House had lived through many generations of full Fridays. To those who attended to the business of Supply—of whom he was one—Friday was often a very long and fatiguing day, and, consequently, a very fruitful day. It was on a Friday attention was called to the question of remounts, and on the Saturday the War Office acted on the debate by dismissing, or making an attempt to dismiss the officer responsible, or, at any rate, an inquiry was ordered. Friday was an extremely good and useful day. It probably would not be in order to refer to the proposed transfer of Supply from Friday to Thursday, but even if that change were made, the value of Friday as a long day would remain, because the business then to be dealt with would be private Members' Bills. He, therefore, claimed the support of every private Member in insisting that Friday should not be a short day. The 1280 Government also ought to join him in keeping Friday as a long day, because they would then be answering the continual complaints of private Members at their time being taken. The Government would probably suffer more than anybody else by Wednesdays being taken, because they would be deprived of the opportunity for compromise and arrangement which Wednesdays always offered, and they would gain nothing. Wednesday having been taken, it was no compensation to offer him Friday. Wednesday was bread, but Friday was a stone; and he should certainly divide against the proposal.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLfully sympathised with the views of the hon. Member for King's Lynn as to the serious injury done to Members by the alteration of the Wednesday half-holiday, and the desirability of Friday being a full day. He had always regarded it as a public scandal that even Saturday should be a holiday. The making of Friday into a short day was simply an enlargement of the "week-end" policy. The Irish Members came to discharge the business of their country, and every day in England was a day away from their homes. It was not right that the time they spent in London should be frittered away for the mere personal convenience of certain hon. Gentlemen. Members should attend and discharge their public trust, and not be society loiterers or "week-end" trippers. This proposal was another evidence of the utter heartlessness and contempt shown by the Government towards everything relating to Ireland, and Irish representatives were simply discarded in the House of Commons. This alteration was not for the convenience of the ordinary Members of the House, but for the convenience of Society men. If they allowed the Government to fritter away the time of the House in this manner, they would be little less than fraudulent trustees. He hoped the hon. Member for King's Lynn would press the matter to a division.
(5.17.) The House divided:—Ayes, 192; Noes, 112. (Division List No. 88.)
| AYES. | ||
| Acland-Hood, Capt. Sir Alex. F. | Fitzroy, Hon. Edward Algernon | Orr-Ewing, Charles Lindsay |
| Anson, Sir William Reynell | Flower, Ernest | |
| Archdale, Edward Mervyn | Palmer, George Wm. (Reading) | |
| Arkwright, John Stanhope | Galloway, William Johnson | Palmer, Walter (Salisbury) |
| Arnold-Forster, Hugh O. | Garfit, William | Parkes, Ebenezer |
| Arrol, Sir William | Gibbs, Hon. Vicary (St. Albans) | Pease, Herbert Pike (D'rlington |
| Atkinson, Rt. Hon. John | Godson, Sir Augustus Frederick | Pemberton, John S. G. |
| Gordon, Hn. J. E. (Elgin & Nairn) | Penn, John | |
| Bagot, Capt. Josceline FitzRoy | Gordon, J. (Londonderry, S.) | Percy, Earl |
| Bailey, James (Walworth) | Gore, Hn G. R. C. Ormsby-(S'lop | Pilkington, Lieut-Col. Richard |
| Bain, Colonel James Robert | Gore, Hon. S. F. Ormsby-(Linc.) | Powell, Sir Francis Sharp |
| Baird, John George Alexander | Gorst, Rt. Hon. Sir John Eldon | Purvis, Robert |
| Balcarres, Lord | Goschen, Hon. George Joachim | |
| Balfour, Rt. Hon. A. J. (Manch'r | Goulding, Edward Alfred | |
| Balfour, Rt Hn Gerald W (Leeds | Gray, Ernest (West Ham) | Randles, John S. |
| Banbury, Frederick George | Greene, Walford D. (Wednesb'ry | Rattigan, Sir William Henry |
| Bentinck, Lord Henry C. | Greene, W. Raymond-(Cambs.) | Reid, James (Greenock) |
| Bignold, Arthur | Guest, Hon. Ivor Churchill | Remnant, James Farquharson |
| Bigwood, James | Gunter, Sir Robert | Rickett, J. Compton |
| Blundell, Colonel Henry | Ridley, Hn. M. W. (Stalybridge | |
| Bond, Edward | Hamilton, Rt Hn Lord G (Midd'x | Ritchie, Rt. Hn. Chas. Thomson |
| Boscawen, Arthur Griffith- | Hanbury, Rt. Hon. Robert Wm. | Roberts, Samuel (Sheffield) |
| Boulnois, Edmund | Hardy, Laurence (Kent, Ashf'rd | Roe, Sir Thomas |
| Bowles, Capt. H. F. (Middlesex) | Harris, Frederick Leverton | Rolleston, Sir John F. L. |
| Brand, Hon. Arthur G. | Haslam, Sir Alfred S. | Round, James |
| Brigg, John | Haslett, Sir James Horner | Royds, Clement Molyneux |
| Broadhurst, Henry | Hay, Hon. Claude George | Rutherford, John |
| Brookfield, Colonel Montagu | Helder, Augustus | |
| Brotherton, Edward Allen | Henderson, Alexander | Sackville, Col. S. G. Stopford- |
| Brymer, William Ernest | Higginbottom, S. W. | Sadler, Col. Samuel Alexander |
| Bullard, Sir Harry | Hope, John Deans (Fife, West) | Seely, Charles Hilton (Lincoln) |
| Butcher, John George | Houldsworth, Sir Wm. Henry | Seely, Maj. J. E. B. (Isle of Wight |
| Hoult, Joseph | Sharpe, William Edward T. | |
| Houston, Robert Paterson | Shaw-Stewart, M. H. (Renfrew) | |
| Carson, Rt. Hon. Sir Edw. H. | Howard, J. (Midd., Tottenham) | Shipman, Dr. John G. |
| Cavendish, R. E. (N. Lancs.) | Hozier, Hon. James Henry Cecil | Simeon, Sir Barrington |
| Cavendish, V. C. W. (D'rbyshire | Hudson, George Bickersteth | Smith, H. C (North'mb. Tyneside |
| Cecil, Evelyn (Aston Manor) | Hughes, Colonel Edwin | Smith, James Parker (Lanarks. |
| Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J. (Birm. | Spear, John Ward | |
| Chamberlain, J. Austen (Worc'r | Jeffreys, Arthur Frederick | Spencer, Sir E. (W. Bromwich) |
| Chaplain, Rt. Hon. Henry | Stanley, Lord (Lancs.) | |
| Chapman, Edward | Kearley, Hudson E. | |
| Churchill, Winston Spencer | Knowles, Lees | |
| Cochrane, Hon. Thos. H. A. E. | Lawson, John Grant | Talbot, Lord E. (Chichester) |
| Coghill, Douglas Harry | Legge, Col. Hon. Heneage | Talbot, Rt Hn. J. G. (Oxf'd Univ. |
| Cohen, Benjamin Louis | Toiler, Gerald Walter Erskine | Thomas, David Alfred (Merthyr |
| Collings, Rt. Hon. Jesse | Long, Rt. Hn. Walter (Bristol, S) | Thomas, JA (Glam'rgan, Gower |
| Corbett, A. Cameron (Glasgow) | Lowe, Francis William | Thornton, Percy M. |
| Corbett, T. L. (Down, North) | Loyd, Archie Kirkman | Tollemache, Henry James |
| Cranborne, Viscount | Lucas, Col. Francis (Lowestoft) | Tomlinson, Wm. Edw. Murray |
| Cripps, Charles Alfred | Lucas, Reginald J. (Portsmouth | Tritton, Charles Ernest |
| Cross, Herb. Shepherd (Bolton) | Tuke, Sir John Batty | |
| Crossley, Sir Savile | Macdona, John Cumming | Valentia, Viscount |
| MacIver, David (Liverpool) | Walker, Col. William Hall | |
| Dalrymple, Sir Charles | M'Arthur, Charles (Liverpool) | Wanklyn, James Leslie |
| Davies, Alfred (Carmarthen) | M'Iver, Sir Lewis (Edinburgh W | Wason, John Cathcart (O'kney) |
| Dickson, Charles Scott | M'Killop, James (Stirlingshire) | Whiteley, H. (Ashton und. Lyne |
| Dixon-Hartland, Sir F'ed Dixon | Markham, Arthur Basil | Whitmore, Charles Algernon |
| Douglas, Rt. Hon. A. Akers- | Milvain, Thomas | Wilson, John (Falkirk) |
| Doxford, Sir William Theodore | Moore, William (Antrim, N.) | Wilson-Todd, Wm. H. (Yorks.) |
| Durning-Lawrence, Sir Edwin | Morgan, David J. (W'lthamstow | Wodehouse, Rt. Hn. E. R (Bath) |
| Dyke, Rt. Hn. Sir William Hart | Morton, Arthur H. A. (Deptford | Wolff, Gustav Wilhelm |
| Mount, William Arthur | Wortley, Rt. Hon. C. B. Stuart- | |
| Elliot, Hon. A. Ralph Douglas | Mowbray, Sir Robert Gray C. | Wyndham, Rt. Hon. George |
| Muntz, Philip A. | Wyndham-Quin, Major W. H. | |
| Murray, Rt Hn A. Graham (Bute | ||
| Fellowes, Hon. Ailwyn Edward | Murray, Charles J. (Coventry) | Younger, William |
| Fergusson, Rt Hn. Sir J. (Manc'r | Murray, Col. Wyndham (Bath) | |
| Finch, George H. | ||
| Finlay, Sir Robert Bannatyne | Nicholson, William Graham | |
| Fisher, William Hayes | Nicol, Donald Ninian | TELLERS FOE THE AYES—Sir William Walrond and Mr. Anstruther. |
| FitzGerald, Sir Robert Penrose- | ||
| Fitzmaurice, Lord Edmond | O'Neill, Hon. Robert Torrens |
| NOES. | ||
| Abraham, William (Cork, N. E.) | Gilhooly, James | O'Shaughnessy, P. J. |
| Allan, William (Gateshead) | Goddard, Daniel Ford | Paulton, James Mellor |
| Allen, Charles P. (Glouc. Stroud | Gurdon, Sir W. Brampton | Pease, J. A. (Saffron Walden) |
| Ambrose, Robert | Harwood, George | Pickard, Benjamin |
| Atherley-Jones, L. | Hayden, John Patrick | Power, Patrick Joseph |
| Barry, E. (Cork, S.) | Hayne, Rt. Hon. Charles Seale- | Price, Robert John |
| Bartley, George C. T. | Hayter, Rt. Hon. Sir Arthur D. | Priestley, Arthur |
| Bell, Richard | Helme, Norval Watson | Rea, Russell |
| Black, Alexander William | Holland, William Henry | Reckitt, Harold James |
| Blake, Edward | Horniman, Frederick John | Reddy, M. |
| Bryce, Rt. Hon. James | Jacoby, James Alfred | Redmond, John E. (Waterford) |
| Burke, E. Haviland- | Joicey, Sir James | Roberts, John H. (Denbighs.) |
| Burns, John | Jordan, Jeremiah | Robson, William Snowdon |
| Caine, William Sproston | Joyce, Michael | Russell, T. W. |
| Caldwell, James | Lambert, George | Schwann, Charles E. |
| Campbell, John (Armagh, S.) | Lough, Thomas | Shaw, Charles Edw. (Stafford) |
| Campbell-Bannerman, Sir H. | Lundon, W. | Sheehan, Daniel Daniel |
| Causton, Richard Knight | MacDonnell, Dr. Mark A. | Sinclair, John (Forfarshire) |
| Channing, Francis Allston | Macnamara, Dr. Thomas J. | Soames, Arthur Wellesley |
| Clancy, John Joseph | MacNeill, John Gordon Swift | Strachey, Sir Edward |
| Cogan, Denis J. | MacVeagh, Jeremiah | Sullivan, Donal |
| Craig, Robert Hunter | M'Crae, George | Tennant, Harold John |
| Crean, Eugene | M'Killop, W. (Sligo, North) | Trevelyan, Charles Philips |
| Cremer, William Randal | Mansfield, Horace Rendall | Wallace, Robert |
| Davies, M. Vaughan-(Cardigan | Mather, William | Walton, Joseph (Barnsley) |
| Delany, William | Mooney, John J. | Wason, Eugene (Clackmannan) |
| Dilke, Rt. Hon. Sir Charles | Moulton, John Fletcher | Weir, James Galloway |
| Disraeli, Coningsby Ralph | Murphy, John | White, Luke (York. E. R.) |
| Donelan, Captain A. | Nannetti, Joseph P. | White, Patrick (Meath, North) |
| Doogan, P. C. | Nolan, Joseph (Louth, South) | Whiteley, George (York, W. R,) |
| Duncan, J. Hastings | Norman, Henry | Whitley, J. H. (Halifax) |
| Dunn, Sir William | Nussey, Thomas Willans | Whittaker, Thomas Palmer |
| Edwards, Frank | O'Brien, James F. X. (Cork) | Wilson, Fred. W. (Norfolk. Mid. |
| Elibank, Master of | O'Brien, Patrick (Kilkenny) | Wilson, John (Durham, Mid.) |
| Ellis, John Edward | O'Brien, P. J. (Tipperary, N.) | |
| Emmott, Alfred | O'Connor, James (Wicklow, W. | |
| Ffrench, Peter | O'Connor, T. P. (Liverpool) | TELLERS FOR THE NOES—Mr. Gibson Bowles and Mr. M'Kenna. |
| Field, William | O'Dowd, John | |
| Furness, Sir Christopher | O'Malley, William |