§ 77. Mr. R. MCNEILLasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the defects in the military postal service in Mesopotamia which elicited complaint some months ago on the ground of the non-delivery and theft of letters and parcels addressed to the troops remain unremedied, inasmuch as letters and parcels in many cases still fail to reach the soldiers to whom they are addressed in Mesopotamia; and whether he can give any assurance that improvement in this respect will be made without further delay?
§ Mr. FORSTERI recently received a Report from the Government of India on this subject dated 30th June. They stated that shortage of river transport caused serious delays in carriage of mails, especially parcels, during the early months of the year but at the time of the Report the inward mails were being cleared from Basra within a week of arrival at the rate of ninety bags per diem, and it was hoped by the 1st August to send on the whole of the English mail on the day of arrival. They have not traced any cases of pilfering. Inadequate addresses and movements of addressees, and in the case of parcels, insecure packing, must account for a good many miscarriages. I propose to communicate further with the Government of India on the subject.
§ Mr. McNEILLIs my hon. Friend aware—
§ Mr. COWANOn a point of Order. The hon. Member for East Edinburgh has taken possession of my seat.
§ Mr. SPEAKERIf the hon. Member's name is on the seat, he is entitled to it.
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Member is entitled to it.
§ Mr. SPEAKERIf the hon. Member's name is in the back of the seat, primâ facie he is entitled to it.
§ Mr. HOGGEThe hon. Member is not entitled to the seat, supposing his card is in this hole, because he has not been within the precincts of the building since he put that card there. My card was originally in this corner at half-past ten this morning, since when I have not left the precincts of the building. I happened to come in about a minute late—
§ Mr. SPEAKERPerhaps temporarily the hon. Member (Mr. Cowan) will take a seat somewhere else and we can settle this question afterwards.
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Gentleman should sit down when I rise, as there are only five minutes more for questions. I would suggest that we dispose of questions before disposing of the other trumpery business.
§ Mr. COWAN (at the close of Questions)I understand, Sir, that your ruling is that when a Member's name is on the back of the seat and when he has been present at Prayers, he cannot be ousted from that place by another Member who has not been present at Prayers?
§ Mr. SPEAKERWhat I said was that the fact of the hon. Member's name being in the back of the seat was primâ facie evidence that he was entitled to it. Of course, that can be set aside by some other evidence. Whether other evidence is forthcoming or not, I do not know. Perhaps the hon. Member for East Edinburgh will furnish it.
§ Mr. HOGGEI am perfectly prepared to give up the seat to the hon. Member today if I can get a ruling from you with regard to this matter which has caused some friction. I would ask you, Sir, for 1425 a ruling as to whether a Member is entitled to place a small card in the back of the seat early in the morning, leave the House, not appear again until Prayers, and then take the seat in preference to hon. Members who come here-and put their cards in, and stay on the premises. The Standing Order says: "A Member to retain his seat must put in a large card stating that he remains within the precincts of the House," and my point is this, that, while some of us in this corner quite early in the morning put in our cards, and remained within the precincts of the House that has not been done by, among others, my hon. Friend on the left (Mr. Cowan). I had this opportunity of establishing this point to-day, and thought it well to do so.
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe rule which has obtained for a long time is this: that if an hon. Member comes down and places this card—the large card—on the seat, he is entitled to place the smaller card at the back of the seat at Prayer time, provided that he has been in attendance at the House during the interval. If he absents himself, then he loses his right.
§ Mr. COWANI venture to say that the general practice of the House is quite the contrary. During the ten years in which I have been in the House the general practice has been—and as time went on it became more and more the general practice, until now I think that it is almost invariable — that when a Member has placed a card on a seat, even if he has had occasion to leave the House, as I had in order to do my work at the Ministry of Munitions—I do not think it is suggested that I should remain in the House and neglect that work—and if the Member returns in time for Prayers he is entitled to that seat. I am absolutely prepared to abide by your ruling, but I would be very glad if the matter could be definitely settled. I am quite sure that if your view is taken, that the Member must remain within the precincts of the House after he places the card upon the seat until he attends at Prayers, it will cause very great inconvenience. Finally, I would ask whether, if my hon. Friend the Member for East Edinburgh has not been in the House during Prayers, he has any claim whatever to the seat?
§ Mr. SPEAKERIf the hon. Member for East Edinburgh was not in the House at Prayer time, of course he is not entitled to the seat. If an hon. Member comes down early for the purpose of obtaining a particular seat, he has got to fulfil two conditions—first of all, he must remain in the House until, Prayer time; and secondly, he must be in attendance at Prayers.
§ Mr. HOGGENow that I have secured your ruling, Mr. Speaker, in my favour on the main point, I have pleasure in surrendering the seat to the hon. Member.
§ Mr. SPEAKERHon. Members have only to look at the card.
§ Mr. LEIF JONESFor the purpose of the ruling, what are the "precincts" of the House? It has been understood by Members that leaving the House in order to go to Government- offices did not cause them to forfeit the privilege of getting their seats at Prayer time.
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe precincts of the House are the Palace of Westminster.